


The Knight of the Rose

by SophiaMaria



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Comedy, Drama, Fluff, Minor Character Death, Post War, Romance, The Quidditch Pitch: Eternity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-14
Updated: 2007-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-27 09:14:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 44,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10806180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophiaMaria/pseuds/SophiaMaria
Summary: What does a woman do when her young lover finds the love of his life...again? Can she find the nobility of heart to let him go? This is a story of young love, of lustful love, and of sacrificial love.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).

  
Author's notes: This is my first posting on The Quidditch Pitch. For those of you who don  


* * *

**The Knight of the Rose**

 

**Act I: Werdenberg Manor, Late December 1998**

 

**CHAPTER 1**

 

A beam of sunlight crept slowly up the brocaded walls of the lavishly appointed bedroom as morning broke upon Werdenberg Manor. Across the large bedchamber, in a large, richly furnished bed of red brocade and silk, a messy head of black hair rose from a pile of pillows to gaze at the woman next to him.

  
The young man propped himself up on his arm and watched as a tousled head of dark brown hair turned and a pair of bright blue eyes opened slowly to greet him.

  
“Good morning, love. Sleep well?” asked the woman as she stretched her arms above her head, a sleepy smile on her lips.

  
“Best sleep ever,” he replied. “Well, the best sleep since the last time I stayed with you here, which was, um, let me see,” he tapped his finger to his lips, pretending to think. “Two nights ago?”

  
Marie Therese von Werdenberg giggled and leaned up to give him a quick kiss on the lips before falling back into the pillows.

  
“I sleep so well when I’m with you, Therese,” he said, looking down at his lover and stroking her hair, which was fanned across her pillow. “No more nightmares, a soft warm bed, and a beautiful woman whom I adore. What more can I ask for?” He stretched out next to her and draped his arm across her soft body.

 

“I used to hate nighttime because of my nightmares,” he continued, stroking her arm. “But now I wish it could always be night – then we can always be together, here in this bed.” He rolled over and propped himself back up on his arm and stroked her hair. “During the day you belong to the world, to your charities and your committees, but at night you are all mine,” he said, leaning over and kissing her bare shoulder. “Only mine.”

  
Marie Therese smiled back at him, amused by the young man in her bed.

  
“I hate the mornings now,” he said, sitting up on his knees, the sheet slipping down to his hips. “Let’s board up the windows and pretend it’s always nighttime so we never have to leave this room!”

  
“I think you’d eventually get a little bored, wouldn’t you?” she teased, giggling softly and running her fingers across his lightly muscled chest.

  
“Never!” he cried as he leaned over her, placing his hands on either side of her head on the pillow and kissing her deeply.

  
She reached her hands into his hair to pull him closer but was interrupted by a tapping at the window. Harry Potter groaned and rolled out of bed, wrapping a blanket around his waist and shuffling to the window.

  
Marie Therese leaned back on her elbows and watched her lover cross the room. She considered his back and shoulders, which had broadened and developed fine muscle tone from his auror training. He had been quite skinny when they first started sleeping together right after the war ended six months ago, but he’d filled out nicely with regular meals, nightmare-free sleep, and the training he’d started in September.

  
She watched the way his hips moved under the low-slung blanket as he made his way to the window. She fell back onto the pillows, thinking about how nice his body had felt only a few hours earlier when they’d made love before drifting off to sleep in each other’s arms.

  
Harry opened up the window just far enough for a large black owl to hop onto the window ledge with a dignified hoot and lift its leg with a proffered piece of parchment. Harry untied the letter, gave the bird an owl treat from the bowl sitting on a shelf beside the window and pulled the window shut behind the animal as it winged away from the house.

  
He shuffled back to the bed, unwrapped the blanket and hopped back under the covers, handing the letter to Marie Therese. He slid in next to her, throwing his leg over hers and resting his head on her shoulder, sighing happily.

  
Harry loved Marie Therese’s bed. After spending eleven years of his life on a thin and dusty mattress in his cupboard at the Dursleys, he had taken great pleasure in the luxury of his four-poster bed in the boy’s dorm at Hogwarts. With its soft pillows, canopy and curtains, he reveled in the privacy and comfort it afforded him for the first time in his life. However, his dormitory four-poster didn’t compare to the luxury of Marie Therese’s bed, which was twice the size and had twice as many pillows and silk, plus the added bonus of a beautiful woman with soft skin and luscious curves. Therefore her bed was his favorite so far and he hated to leave it in the mornings.

  
“My cousin Sebastian will be visiting this morning,” she said, interrupting his thoughts, glancing through the letter. “I’d forgotten that he’d written me about coming by to talk with me on some matter.”

  
“Oh great, that bloody oaf is just what we need this morning,” Harry sulked.

  
Marie Therese swatted him on the arm with the letter in a mock scold. “Harry, you know he’s my cousin and I have to see him. I’ve put him off for a week now.”

  
Harry had only met Sebastian Ochs once but knew he didn’t like the man. He was Marie Therese’s first cousin and was as obnoxious and oblivious as Ludo Bagman and as arrogant and elitist as Lucius Malfoy, but without the sadistic streak. Ochs had been an open supporter of the Death Eaters during the first war, and helped them with covert financial contributions during the second. When his support was discovered after the second war, he had made generous donations to the rebuilding effort to buy himself out of Azkaban. The Ministry had put him on probation, meaning that for three years his movements and magical signature would be tracked, but he was otherwise free to carry on his business as long as he stayed in England. Since then he’d secretly bribed his way into a lucrative reconstruction contract with the Ministry and was starting to rebuild his fortune. He was arrogant, obnoxious, and corrupt, but as the only other remaining member of her family, Marie Therese still felt loyalty to him. She thought he’d reformed somewhat since the war ended, but she didn’t think he’d ever fully change his ways.  
  
Their conversation was interrupted by a small pop, as Winky, the house elf Harry knew from Hogwarts, popped into the room. Harry had suggested that Marie Therese bring Winky to work for her after the war because a beloved elderly house elf that had served her family for over a century had died the previous year. Marie Therese had helped Winky get over her butterbeer addiction and the elf had settled in well with the other house elves in the household.

  
Winky brought with her a tray of hot chocolate, which she knew Harry loved. Dobby had once told her that Harry drank it every morning at Hogwarts because he was never allowed to have it as a child.

  
“Winky brings hot chocolate, Mistress and Sir Harry,” the house elf said, setting the tray on the bedside table.

 

“Thank you, Winky,” said Marie Therese. “Please let the other house elves know that my cousin Sebastian Ochs will be visiting this morning.”

 

“Yes, Mistress, Winky will let the others know,” she said with a curtsey and disappeared with another small pop.

  
Marie Therese had a staff of a dozen house elves that had been in her family since she was a child. She didn’t need quite so many but they needed a place to work and live, so she kept them on. She treated them well but did not pay them wages because she knew it would be futile to try. They kept up the house and grounds and managed the stables but otherwise had time to pursue hobbies and leisure activities. She provided for them in their old age and encouraged them to marry and raise families.

  
Marie Therese poured cups of hot chocolate for each of them from the little pot and handed one to Harry. They sipped their warm drinks in companionable silence, enjoying the quiet start to the day. She loved mornings like this, sitting in the comfortable bed with her favorite companion by her side, talking about anything and everything – the war, the reconstruction, his training, their mutual friends. Today, though, they couldn’t lounge about for long.

  
“You need to get going, love, if you’re going to get to training on time,” she said, with reluctance.  
  
“I wish I could just stay here forever, lying in bed with you. It’s my favorite place in the whole world,” he said, barely avoiding spilling his drink on the bedclothes as he waved his arm at the room.

  
“Ah now, Harry you know you can’t. Stephan returns tonight,” Marie Therese reminded him, laying a hand on his arm to still his movements. 

  
Harry groaned and lay back against the pillows, sipping his hot chocolate with a scowl. He had reason for his sudden change in mood, for he knew very well that Stephan was Marie Therese’s husband.

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

****The Knight of Rose** **

****Chapter 2** **

Though the rest of the world saw Harry Potter as The Boy Who Lived, The Chosen One, or The Boy Who Defeated Voldemort for Good, what most people didn’t know was that Harry Potter was also The Boy Who Was Having a Torrid, Scandalous, and Wonderfully Happy Secret Affair with an Older Married Woman. A ___wealthy pureblood___ married woman.   
  
Marie Therese von Werdenberg, age 35, was twenty years younger than her husband, an ambassador for the British Ministry in Egypt. Stephan spent much of the year in Cairo at the Egyptian ministry, but visited their home in England regularly. Although Marie Therese took a portkey to Cairo several times a month to join her husband for official functions, she preferred to live in England where she could look after their financial matters, manage their estate, work on her various charities, and serve on the board of St. Mungo’s Hospital and the Hogwarts Board of Governors.

And, for the last six months, she spent her nights with Harry Potter, the wonderful boy she called Schatz (or ___dear___ ), who spent his nights making her feel like the most important woman in the world.

But despite the fact that she loved him dearly, right now she was trying to kick him out of bed so he could get to his Auror training on time and she could get ready for her cousin Sebastian’s visit.

“Why can’t you leave him and run away with me, Therese?” Harry pleaded. “You know I love you. I hate that you have to cheat on him to be with me. I hate knowing that I’m helping you break your marriage vows.” He slumped back against the pillows with his arms crossed on his chest.

“Harry,” she responded soothingly, “I’ve asked you not to worry about that. You know that I never vowed to be faithful to Stephan, not even in our wedding ceremony. I vowed to love him and to be his wife, but even when I married at nineteen, I knew enough of the world to know that I would never have to be faithful to him,” she said. “You forget how it works for pureblood nobles.”

Harry knew that Marie Therese was of the wizarding pureblood upper class to which the Malfoys and Blacks belonged. In fact, they were all interrelated. Her husband was from a longstanding pureblood family that was distantly related to hers, while her father was a cousin of Lucius Malfoy’s mother on one side and Sirius Black’s father on the other side. Marie Therese’s mother, on the other hand, traced her ancestry to the wizarding side of the Hapsburg Empire, and she was named after the Empress Maria Theresa, one of her ancestors. Her family immigrated to England from Vienna in the 1930’s, but she still had relatives back in Austria that she visited several times a year.

Marie Therese had married Stephan at her father’s request, and although they did not marry for love, they had a good relationship built on respect and a sense of duty to their family lines and fortunes. Harry thought this was a horrible way to live, but she seemed happy and didn’t have any qualms about taking him into her bed.

“Wealthy purebloods don’t marry for love or fidelity, Schatz. The only fidelity we expect is that any heirs we produce will be our husband’s genetic offspring – pureblood, of course – and that we keep any affairs quiet and do not make a scandal. We do not marry for love – we marry for financial and family transactions. And we find love in,” she paused and stroked Harry’s arm, “other pursuits.”

“I could never live that way!” Harry protested. “When I marry, it will be for love and I will never, ever, cheat on my wife!”

“Ah, I can see that your famous noble streak wasn’t completely stamped out by the war,” she said softly. She shifted to face him. “And I wish all of that for you, my love,” she said, taking his hand in hers and kissing it.

“Then why don’t you divorce Stephan and marry me?” he cried, grabbing her hands in both of his. “We both have money. I inherited more than enough to live on, and neither of us would have to work. I’m only going through Auror training because Ron and I had always planned to do it together. But I could quit. We could move anywhere, live anywhere and just be happy together!”

“You know I can’t, Schatz,” she insisted. “I can never leave my husband. Our position and social standing are too important. I must never upset the delicate balance that we have established.”

“Then I will be your lover for the rest of my life,” he said, kneeling beside her, taking her hand to his lips and kissing it. “I’ll work as an Auror and join you when Stephan is away.”   
  
Only a year ago, Harry would have never dreamed of falling in love with another man’s wife and pledging to love her for the rest of his life, but the war had changed him. He had seen too much death and lost too many people he cared about – his parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, Tonks, Neville – to deny himself any kind of love, especially one that made him feel so good and so alive.

Though Ron and Hermione had predicted that Harry would retreat into himself after the war, he surprised everyone by exchanging his morose nobility for a kind of zest for life that trumped any rigid sense of moral duty, and part of that was due to Marie Therese. If she said that it wasn’t hurting her marriage, then he trusted her and went along for the ride. A voice in the back of his head still nagged at him, saying, “this is wrong, you don’t belong here,” but he pushed these thoughts aside when he was with her. She made him happier than he’d ever been in his life. Happier than winning the Quidditch cup, happier than when he’d found out he was a wizard, happier than when he killed Voldemort. She just had an effect on him. …. Or maybe it was the sex. …. Either way, he didn’t want to leave her.

“No, love, you can’t live like that,” said Marie Therese. “As much as you think you want to be with me as just my lover, you can’t live like this forever. And as much as I would love to be with you, you will want a family of your own, and I can’t give you that. I can’t even give that to my own husband,” she said softly and pulled away from Harry. She got out of the bed, picked up her dressing gown and put it on as she crossed the room.   
  
When Marie Therese was first married, she had volunteered her time in the pediatric ward at St. Mungo’s, where in her second month on the job she contracted a case of wizard measles. Though relatively harmless to children, adult witches and wizards had a harder time fighting the illness and often suffered from rashes and high fever. Her fever, combined with a faulty potion that had been administered by an incompetent apprentice potion-maker, had left her infertile. No magical or muggle remedy was able to fix it.   
  
In earlier times a wife’s infertility would have been grounds for annulment, freeing her husband to remarry a witch who could bear children, but Stephan was a good-natured man and he decided that he did not need children. His younger brother already had two boys, and since his parents were no longer alive there was no external pressure to produce an heir. So Marie Therese poured her energy into her volunteer work for children’s causes and served on the boards of St. Mungo’s and Hogwarts School, while Stephan accepted a post as ambassador to Egypt. They had gradually grown apart but had a comfortable and functional marriage. She was sure he had affairs of his own and she didn’t mind, knowing it was just the way marriages worked among her class of wealthy pureblood wizards.  
  
She stood at the window, looking out over the grounds of her estate. “Harry, as much as I adore you, you know this relationship can’t last. I’m 35 and you’re 18. I’m married and you are free. You’ll eventually find someone young and unattached. Heute oder morgen oder den übernächsten Tag….”

“Don’t go spinning off into German, again, Therese,” Harry implored, looking at her from across the room, feeling cold as he sat alone in the bed.

“Sorry, Schatz, it’s just a saying,” she said, turning to look at him, her breath catching at how beautiful he looked propped up in her bed, his fierce green eyes shining from under his unruly dark hair. “Tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that, you will find someone young and beautiful and you will get married and have lots of children. And I….” she paused, looking back out the window. “Well, I will get old and fat and wrinkled and will be ‘Auntie Therese’ to all of my friends’ kids and grandkids. With the Weasleys around, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of kids around to dote on.” She laughed ruefully and turned to look at him with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Harry rose to his knees in the middle of the big bed with the blankets on his lap. “No, Therese, I will stay with you! I love you too much, and I love ___this___ too much!” he said, gesturing to the room. “And you will ___not___ get fat and wrinkled. You are so beautiful. You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known!” 

She shook her head. “Harry, I’m getting old and I’m losing my looks,” she said, crossing back to the bed and standing in front of him. “I’m past my prime. I can’t believe you’d rather be with me than someone young and pretty.” 

Harry smiled up at her and shook his head. He had heard her say this many times and it always shocked and annoyed him that she was so insecure about getting old. She didn’t realize just how beautiful she was. Harry had known a lot of attractive girls at Hogwarts. Both Ginny and Hermione were quite pretty and Harry had been very attracted to Ginny once upon a time. But Marie Therese was exquisite. She may have been seventeen years older than him, but this just made her more appealing and exciting. Her piercing blue eyes and wicked smile, her womanly figure, the small curve of her belly – which he liked to call her ‘bonus curve’ – all made her exceedingly beautiful and sexy.

She was his first lover, as he hadn’t done much more than kiss and explore with Ginny when they briefly dated in his sixth year at Hogwarts, and Marie Therese had opened up a whole new world to him. She was patient in his first fumbling attempts at making love, and taught him how to take it slow, how to touch her, and how to please her. She said he was fantastic in bed, though he knew that he had learned it all from her, and she took his breath away with her beauty, grace, and kindness.

And he wanted to show her just how much he loved her. He crawled across the bed to where she was standing, grabbed her hands in his and kneeled up to look into her blue eyes, which were starting to swim with tears. 

“Therese, you are beautiful and perfect.” He held her face in his hands and leaned up to kiss away a tear that was forming in the corner of her clear blue eyes. He kissed a tear from her other eye, and then softly kissed her lips. “I never want to leave you, Therese. Please let me stay?” he asked, looking into her eyes.

As an answer to his question, she kissed him back tenderly. He pulled her closer, deepening the kiss and moving his hands into her hair. She wrapped her arms around his body, sliding her hands across the muscles in his back. He started to lean back to pull her into bed with him when they were interrupted by a small pop as Winky reappeared, looking agitated and nervous. Harry groaned and reluctantly pulled away as he wrapped the blanket around his waist and sullenly got off the bed.

“Winky is sorry to disturb Mistress and Sir Harry, but Master Ochs is here to see you, Mistress. He is out in the hallway,” said the house elf, wringing her hands.

Marie Therese sighed, and stood back up. “Tell him to wait five minutes and then I will see him here in my sitting area.” Winky nodded and disappeared with another small pop.

She turned back to the bed. “Harry, you have to go. He can’t see you here.”

“No.” He didn’t want to let her go so easily. “If it really is so commonplace for your kind to have lovers, then let him find me!” he said, flopping back onto the bed. “I want him to see me here in your bed so I can tell him how much I love you and want to be with you for the rest of my life,” he said, looking up at her with a challenge behind the playful grin on his face.   
  
Marie Therese gasped, “Oh no, Harry! It’s just not done! This kind of thing happens, but you don’t ___flaunt___ it in front of people, ___especially___ someone like Sebastian. He’s too much of a gossip. You have to leave!” she said, grabbing his hand and trying to pull him out of the bed.

“No! I’m staying right here and you can’t make me leave,” he said, smirking at her and making no move to get up.

Marie Therese thought quickly, her panic rising. If Sebastian found Harry in her bed she knew it would spell disaster. She didn’t think Stephan would care if he found out about her affair with Harry, but her cousin wouldn’t let the opportunity to let such a juicy bit of gossip pass him by. She didn’t think Harry quite understood the consequences for either of them if word got out.

She knew that Harry’s stubborn streak was too strong for her to make him leave and she couldn’t force him to Apparate, so she came up with an idea.

“Okay, if you insist, you may stay to meet my cousin,” she said calmly as she crossed to the room to her vanity. “But I’ll have to introduce you by another name.” She picked up her wand, waved it at him with a wry grin as she quietly said, __“ _Effeminatus transitus_.” __  
  
Harry felt a swirling around his body and looked down and saw that he was changing shape and was now wearing a simple black dress with a white apron, stockings and low-heeled women’s shoes. He got to his knees on the bed and ran his hands down his body. He felt breasts! And soft curves! ___Oh no, what did she do to me?__ _ He thought, panicking.  
  
He hopped out of bed and ran to the mirror and saw that he had long dark wavy hair, pouty red lips, and a slender neck with no Adam’s apple. But his own green eyes stared back at him from the mirror, making him look like his own sister. It all felt temporary, like he was wearing a female body suit, but it looked very real. Too real! 


	3. Chapter 3

  
Author's notes: Please review! I'd like to see what people think about this little view into the future I've created.  This may look like non-canon pairings, but it's really H/G - you'll just have to wait and see!  


* * *

 

****CHAPTER 3** **

Harry whipped around in panic to face Marie Therese. “What did you do to me, Therese?” he cried in anguish.

She laughed and grabbed one of his soft hands. “I’m so sorry love, but it’s just a simple glamour charm,” she said, giggling, as she ran her hands through his long wavy hair. “Don’t worry. It will wear off in 15 minutes and you’ll be back to normal in the clothes you wore here last night.” He looked around and noticed that his clothes were missing. “That will give you time for Sebastian to meet my new chamber maid, __Henrietta__ , and for her to leave my bedroom, Floo back to her own flat and get ready for her Auror training, which starts, I believe, in less than a half hour,” she said, glancing at the clock on the mantle. 

Harry was horrified at his appearance but was relieved to know that it would wear off soon. He still wasn’t happy and was shocked that she would do such a thing to him.

“Of course, now you won’t be able to introduce yourself to him as my lover, unless you want him to think I like girls too,” she said with a giggle. “I’m sure the perv would probably get off on the idea. You are quite lovely as a girl, though, Schatz. It gives me some rather kinky ideas,” she said with a little grin, pulling on simple fitted burgundy house robes, sliding her feet into slippers, and brushing her long dark hair. She flicked her wand at the bed, which made itself, pillows landing in a neat array on top of the deep red silk duvet.

They heard a scuffle and Sebastian’s baritone voice outside the door.

“Fine,” Harry sighed, realizing that it was too late to Apparate because Sebastian would be able to hear the popping sound and know that she had someone in her room. “But if this doesn’t wear off before I have to leave for training today, I’m coming back and making you remove it, whether your cousin is still here or not.”

“Of course, dear,” she said, and she kissed him on the cheek.

A loud knock sounded at the door. Harry scuttled to the far side of the bed, peeking out as Marie Therese turned toward the door.

“Come in, Sebastian,” called Marie Therese, and the door opened as a stout man in opulent robes and a walking stick strode into the room. He was balding, with a fringe of light brown hair around his head. He had a distinct paunch and a smug grin on his face as he entered and took in his surroundings. Winky was visible right behind his legs.

“Ah, cousin,” she greeted, taking his hands and giving him air kisses by each cheek. “I’m so sorry that I didn’t answer your owl the other day. I’ve been quite busy at St. Mungo’s.”

“Not to worry, my dear. I just wanted to pop by to give you some news and ask a favor.” Winky tried to back away slowly, but Sebastian stopped her with his walking stick. “House elf! Bring us a pot of tea, and be quick about it or you’ll get another kick in the arse!”

“Sebastian!” cried Marie Therese, incensed. “Did you kick Winky? How dare you! She’s a helpless creature. Apologize to her at once!”

“Oh, Therese, I just gave her a little nudge with my foot when she wouldn’t get out of my way. I didn’t hurt the sorry thing. Bloody hell, I forgot that you were such a bleeding heart!” 

“I’m not a ‘bleeding heart’, as you put it, I just don’t think that you should treat any person __or creature__ with such disregard and cruelty. Now, apologize to Winky,” she demanded, pointing down at the house elf cowering behind Marie Therese’s legs. 

Sebastian cleared his throat and glanced in their direction, “Uh, I’m sorry, uh, Winky, is it? I didn’t mean to nudge you with my foot.” Winky squeaked and Apparated away with a tiny pop.

Harry, who was standing unnoticed beside the bed, was glaring daggers at the man and fingering his wand in his apron pocket. Marie Therese gave him a warning look, and Ochs followed her gaze to see the young, pretty chambermaid scowling at him.

“Well now, what do we have here?” asked Ochs, leering at Harry, clearly not shamed by the incident with Winky. “And who is this pretty young thing?”

Harry stood frozen to the spot as the portly man checked out his feminine body from head to foot, lingering on his new curves and stopping at his breasts. Harry spied Marie Therese standing behind Sebastian, silently laughing behind her hand. He glared back at her.

“This is my new chambermaid, Henrietta,” she said, stifling a giggle. “Henrietta, say hello to my cousin, Sebastian Ochs.”

“Chambermaid?” asked Ochs. “Why on earth do you need a chambermaid when you have that Winky creature and a dozen other house elves?”

“Well, Henrietta’s a muggle-born witch whose parents were killed by Death Eaters when she was only 14,” Marie Therese explained, adlibbing a story she had conjured in her mind in the last few minutes. “I found her a year ago, cleaning bedpans at St. Mungo’s to earn a living because she couldn’t afford to pay for Hogwarts, couldn’t do magic, and needed a job. I realized that I needed more human companionship around this big house, so I asked her to come work for me here. She’s been doing a great job doing light housework and keeping me company, and I’m tutoring her on what she’s missing at school.” 

She looked at Harry and teased, “Isn’t she a pretty thing?”

“Yes, quite lovely,” he leered. “Come here, Henrietta. Let me take a closer look at you.” Harry stood rooted to the spot, glaring at Marie Therese over Sebastian’s shoulder. The older man took a step closer, leered at Harry up close and stroked a finger down his bare arm, making the young man shiver in revulsion. “Ooh, she’s shy. I like that in a girl!” he said and reached around to grab his rear end. “Young and firm, too!”

Harry yelped and jumped back a foot. Marie Therese scolded her cousin, “Sebastian, behave! She just turned 16 – she’s far too young for you.”

“Well, give her a year and she’ll be of age,” he replied and leaned in toward his cousin to continue in a conspiratorial tone. “Too bad she’s a mudblood, but I guess that won’t matter for a little bit of fun, if you know what I mean.”

Marie Therese gasped, “Sebastian, I do not want to hear that word in my house! You know how I feel about that. And she’s a person, not a plaything.”

Harry was bright red and seething with rage at the imbecile standing before him. Therese was secretly enjoying Harry’s mortification, though she was horrified that her cousin would behave that way in front of either of them.

“Sorry, Therese, I know that the whole blood purity thing is considered taboo in today’s __politically correct__ environment,” he blustered, “but we have to preserve the pureblood line, you know!”

“ _ _Toujours Pur__ , yes, I know. Like we’re in any position to continue __that__ family tradition,” she said testily, too flustered by the ticking clock to continue arguing with him. She turned to Harry with a meaningful look and said, “Ok, Henrietta, that’s all for now. Please go tell Winky to bring some biscuits when she brings the tea.” Harry gave a sarcastic curtsey, flashed a glare at Ochs, and started to leave the room. 

Ochs grabbed Harry’s arm as he passed by. “You don’t have to leave so soon, do you, my dear?”

“I’m afraid so,” Harry said in a falsetto. “I must get Mistress her tea.”

“Oh that can wait. Come sit with me a moment,” he said, trying to steer Harry toward a sofa near the bed.

“Sebastian, she needs to go get our tea. Please don’t detain her,” said Marie Therese, concerned about the time slipping away too quickly.

“Nonsense. Winky can fetch it for us. Just call and order it from her. I’d like to get to know your young friend a little better,” said the older man, sitting Harry next to him on the sofa and putting a firm hand on his knee.

“No, I mustn’t! I have many chores to do,” said Harry, pulling away from the older man and trying to stand up.

“They can wait, my pretty one. Just sit and chat with Uncle Sebastian for a few minutes.”

Harry gave an imploring look at Marie Therese, who was giggling at his predicament. “Sebastian, please, Henrietta must leave. I need her to help Winky.”

Ochs was about to slide his hand up Harry’s leg when the younger man said, “I really do need to go,” and gasped when his voice dropped an octave. He looked down at his arm, which was starting to sprout hairs.

He looked up at Marie Therese, who heard the change in his voice and hurriedly said, “Please, Henrietta, go quickly now. We mustn’t keep the tea waiting!” Harry jumped up from Ochs’s grasp, and with one last glance at his lover, ran out of the room.

“I’m sorry she had to run out so quickly but she’s very shy,” she said by way of explanation to a bemused Ochs.

Marie Therese felt bad that she and Harry had to part on such terms, but she chose not to worry about it, knowing that he would Floo back to his flat in London to get ready for training. She would owl him later with a note of apology and one of his favorite Viennese deserts. She wouldn’t see him again until after the New Year because she and Stephan were attending a New Year’s Eve party at the Egyptian embassy in London and she was taking an international portkey to Vienna the next morning for a symphony concert. But she planned to make it up to him fully after that.

She moved to the sitting area on the other side of her bedroom and sat down. “Okay, Sebastian, why is it that you wanted to speak with me?” she said, gesturing for her cousin to sit. Sebastian sat in one of the plush armchairs and sighed.

“Well, Therese,’ he began, looking quite pleased with himself. “You must congratulate me, for I am about to be married!”

“Congratulations,” she said warily, taken aback by his announcement. “Who is the, ah, lucky woman?”

“I don’t actually know,” he said with a grin.

“You don’t know?” she asked. “Is it some kind of an arranged marriage?”

“Well, Therese, the engagement is actually the product of the __conubium__ spell.”

“The __conubium__ spell? I thought that was abolished 20 years ago after that poor Hornby girl died?”

“True, it was, but this specific spell was actually cast 26 twenty six years ago and is only now taking effect. It was cast on a family that didn’t have a daughter for another 9 years, and she finally turned 17 this year. I’d quite forgotten about it, really, until I got an official owl a week ago, notifying me that the girl and her family would receive the spell-notification on New Year’s Day and that the Betrothing ceremony would happen that afternoon.” 

Marie Therese was horrified. “Oh, Sebastian! I cannot believe that you would still go through with it. It’s such a horrible, antiquated spell. So unjust!”

“Well, what’s done is done and can’t be undone. So now I will be assured of a pureblood, virgin bride, and, of course, we know what will happen to her if we don’t carry it out.” Marie Therese slunk back in her chair, saddened by the news that such a barbaric custom was still being used.

The __conubium__ was a centuries-old spell that was designed to maintain pureblood family lines. During the witch hunts of the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe, many wizards and witches married muggles to help blend in and avoid detection. The increasing rates of intermarriage began to cause the births of more squibs and fewer magical children. The community feared that they would die out, so they took steps to ensure that purebloods would continue to inter-marry and produce pureblood offspring to maintain the magical line. 

One of these steps was the development of the __conubium__ spell, which bound a pureblood wizard and witch at birth so that when the youngest of the pair came of age at 17 seventeen they would have to marry or both would die.

The spell was originally a contract between two families. The young people would grow up knowing that they were pledged to each other and the couples typically entered the marriage willingly. However, in the last century the spell had been used more and more as a way to merge wealthy families and maintain noble bloodlines, much in the way that muggle aristocrats used marriage to merge families and wealth.

During this time, the age gap between the bride and groom began to increase. Rather than pledging two infants, families began pledging young girls to older boys or young men, often before they were born, as a way to ensure family mergers. This resulted in girls entering into marriage at 18eighteen to men in their thirties, forties, and even fifties. In addition, given that the men who were involved in the spell were already of age before it was cast, they removed the death threat for the groom, retaining it only for the bride.

Some girls refused to marry, preferring to take their own lives. Others tried to run away and ended up succumbing to the final stage of the spell at midnight at the end of their eighteenth birthdays. Given the grim prospects (marrying a man more than twice their age or dying), the girls began to rebel against the spell. Encouraged and advised by their aunts and older sisters, they began hexing the bollocks off the groom when they arrived at the Betrothing ceremony. No amount of cajoling or threatening would stop the young girls from learning and using the __castrato__ spell, which was passed between noble pureblood witches. (Marie Therese’s great-great aunt was one particularly vehement advocate.) They decided that if marriage was inevitable, they would at least inflict pain on the man they were being forced to spend the rest of their lives with – children or no children. 

It didn’t take long for the male members of the class to modify the spell to protect their…investments. They added a new component to the __conubium__ called the __familias__ spell – a combination of a cheering charm and a confundus charm, which, when cast on both the girl and her family, ensured joy over the match and eager planning of the wedding. Once the spells were activated on New Year’s Day of the year in which the witch turned eighteen, the family and the girl happily planned the wedding and marched right to the altar on her birthday.

The situation came to a head in the late 1970’s when Eloise Hornby’s secret boyfriend saw through the spell and killed the male suitor shortly after the engagement ceremony. Unfortunately, the boy hadn’t been aware of the second part of the spell and the girl died in his arms shortly thereafter. The girl’s grief-stricken family then petitioned the Ministry to abolish the spell. Despite threats from wealthy members of the Wizengamot, the Ministry acquiesced by declaring the spell illegal, and the practice ceased. 

The existing spell contracts, however, remained to be carried out, given that the Ministry didn’t have a counterspell or a way to keep the girls from dying and the continued threats from the wealthy wizarding class kept the Ministry from actively researching a counterspell. They rationalized that there were only a dozen remaining contracts in existence, and the spell would be forgotten once the girls were married. Most of them had been carried out by this time, so it was a surprise to Marie Therese that there were any still in effect.

As Marie Therese sat pondering her cousin’s announcement, Winky appeared with the tea tray. She set it on the table between them, gave Ochs a fearful look, curtseyed to her mistress and disappeared.

“So why don’t you know who the young lady is?” Marie Therese asked, pouring tea for her and her cousin.

“My mother didn’t want me to know. She initiated the spell a year after I graduated from Hogwarts. I was having a jolly time running around with my mates, gambling and drinking, sleeping with any number of scarlet women, and staying out all hours,” he stopped, grinning as though recalling a particularly fond memory.

“Go on,” prompted Marie Therese tersely, handing him his cup of tea.

“One night Mother got a Floo call from the local auror patrol, telling her that I’d been picked up at a muggle brothel in London, drunk as a skunk and in the arms of a particularly charming young prostitute. … Damn, she was good! … Anyway, Mother had to convince cousin Reginald to go into muggle London to secure my release,” he said, adding a tablespoon of sugar to his tea and giving it a stir.

“When I got home, she read me the riot act. I’ve never seen her quite so angry,” he said, taking a sip of his tea. “She said she’d given me a year to get this carousing out of my system and it was time to settle down. I was acting like a common ruffian, a disgrace to the family. She insisted that I settle down, take over the estate, marry a nice pureblood girl and produce an heir,” he said.

“I refused,” he continued. “Said that I wanted to live my own life. Even though father had been gone for several years by then, I had no desire to take over the running of the estate, become the ‘Lord of the Manor’ and all that rubbish. No, I wanted to see the world, go to Brazil, where my friends told me that the witches were particularly sexually…um …gymnastic,” he said with a chuckle, leaning toward his cousin conspiratorially. “Trust me – I can report that they indeed are!”

Marie Therese rolled her eyes in response, sipping her tea quietly. She was obviously no prude, but she did not want to hear details about her cousin’s sex life.

He sat back in his chair once again. “So I refused. I threatened to run away to Brazil, not return, and never give her an heir.”

“What did she do?” Marie Therese asked, intrigued by this bit of family history that she had not known.

“She gave in. She said she couldn’t stand the thought of my heir possibly being some ‘brown-skinned muggle from some God-forsaken country in South America’,” he said, selecting a biscuit from the tray and taking a bite. “So she agreed to a compromise. She would turn over the running of the estate to Reginald until I married. But to ensure that I married properly, she entered me into a __conubium__ contract with a family that was just starting to have children. This would give me at least 17 years to get this out of my system and then ensure that I would eventually settle down, marry properly, take over the estate, and produce an heir.”

“Seventeen years is a long time,” said Marie Therese. “Why did she agree to such a long wait?”

“It was the only way Mother could seal the deal, so she figured it was the price to pay,” he said, taking another biscuit. “She’d promised my father that she would pass the estate to me and not Reginald, so she had to find a way to do it. There weren’t any older girls around who were not already pledged, so she found what she called a ‘poor but very fertile’ pureblood family and tricked them into entering the contract. They’d already had several boys and were due for a girl, but they didn’t have one for at least 8 years after that. I forgot all about it, but after Mum’s death her portrait started asking me about it, reminding me that the family had finally produced a daughter and that I’d be marrying one day.”

“So here we are,” he concluded. “On New Year’s Day, they should get an official owl, releasing both the __conubium__ and __familias__ spells. They should be thrilled to see their daughter make such an esteemed match and marry a well-respected gentleman from such a noble family!” He chuckled as he took another bite of his biscuit.

Marie Therese nearly choked on her tea and had to bite her tongue to keep from reminding him that his respect and family nobility had worn off several years ago. He may have come from a wealthy family, but their dealings during the wars had quite tarnished its reputation. Marie Therese’s father had two female cousins who were sisters – one was Ochs’s mother and the other was Lucius Malfoy’s mother. The Malfoys had eventually been unmasked as Death Eaters during the second war. Lucius had been killed by Harry in the final battle, and Draco and had been sent to Azkaban for the torture and killing of several muggles. Sebastian, while not an open or active supporter of the Death Eaters, was still tainted by his association with them. He was working his way back into the good graces of the ministry, but there was still mud, if not blood, on his hands. 

Marie Therese was glad that she and Stephan had shifted away from that side of the family, despite the tie she still had to Sebastian. She only stayed in contact with him because he had begged her to take him back into the family. She also felt sorry for him, being the last in his family line. Though she could barely tolerate him, she’d always had a soft spot for him, perhaps because he was so good to her when she was a child. She had hoped that he would reform, but he hadn’t done much to show he was headed in that direction yet.

“So how did she trick the parents?” she asked, not sure if she really wanted to know.

“He was a young clerk at the Ministry, and he went to our house to check out some kind of enchanted artifact that the Ministry was interested in,” Ochs said, holding his cup out for more tea and grabbing a third biscuit.

“She offered him some tea and put a __confundudis__ potion in it, then had him sign the contract, activating the spell. He never knew what happened.”

Marie Therese sighed as she poured his tea. “So what do you want from me? My support? My blessing? You know that I cannot possibly support this marriage!”

“Therese, you know that we can’t break the spell or the girl will die,” he said pleadingly. “You wouldn’t want that, would you? And trust me, given how poor they probably still are, they should be thrilled to have her so well married into a wealthy pureblood family.”

She thought for a moment as she sipped her second cup of tea. She knew that there was a counterspell – which Ochs has apparently forgotten about – that her older cousins and aunts had told her about. Unfortunately she didn’t know the incantation. She had an idea of where to look for it, but knew it would take a while to find. She would start looking right away, but until then she would humor him.

“Very well then, cousin, if there is no other way. Will the festivities begin this Friday?”

“Yes, the package will be sent to the family on New Year’s morning, and the Betrothing ceremony will take place that afternoon,” he said. “I do have a bit of a favor to ask, ma Cousine.”

“Yes? What is it?” she asked cautiously.

“I need a Cavalier to present the silver betrothal rose at the ceremony on New Year’s Day. I know you are friends with several Aurors, so perhaps you can help me?”

Marie Therese knew that a Cavalier was an Auror-in-training. The term had fallen out of use but was still used for these types of ceremonial occasions.

“Well, I can ask…” she started, thinking she didn’t really want to bother Kingsley with this kind of request.

“I have just the young man in mind,” he interrupted. “I believe you are acquainted with the young Harry Potter?”

Marie Therese looked up at him in surprise, thinking that he’d recognized Harry in his Henrietta disguise. But when she looked at her cousin, she merely saw an inquiring look on his face.

“Yes,” she said slowly. “I am acquainted with Mr. Potter.”

“Well, then,” Ochs said jovially. “You must ask him to be my Cavalier at the ceremony. It would be simply smashing to have The-Boy-Who-Lived present the rose to my betrothed. Very fitting, don’t you think?” He raised his eyebrows at her over his cup as he took a sip.

Marie Therese groaned inwardly. Harry hated anything to do with his fame and would certainly __not__ be happy to be picked for this task. “No, no, Harry is far too busy. Why don’t you pick someone else? There’s young Weasley and young Smith.”

“No, I must have Potter. Would you please ask the Aurors on my behalf?” he asked pleadingly. 

She was surprised that a former Death Eater supporter would want the man who killed Voldemort to represent him in the ceremony, but figured that it was a public relations stunt to improve his image.

Marie Therese thought for a moment. She knew her cousin was stubborn and wouldn’t back down on his request. And her Slytherin mind thought about how it might help her in the future to have Sebastian in her debt. She didn’t think it would hurt Harry to get some experience with meaningless Ministry diplomatic nonsense and it could also help him with his standing in the Auror corps – something beyond his Boy-Who-Lived status. She would just have to be sure to recommend him anonymously.

“Very well then,” she said, standing up. “I’ll send an owl to Mr. Shacklebolt.” He owes me a few favors, she thought.

Ochs thanked her profusely, bid his farewells and left. Marie Therese shook her head at the door after she closed it behind him and sat down to write a short note to Kingsley.

__There he goes, the big oaf__ , she thought, tapping her quill feather against her chin. __His mother tricks some poor unsuspecting man and 25 twenty five years later, my cousin gets a young virgin bride. And what does the girl get? A lifetime of misery. She’ll have to bear his children and sleep in his bed. He’ll likely cheat on her, though she probably won’t mind, given that she won’t want him in her bed. She may just end up like me, the poor thing.__

 

**Author’s note:** By saying “some brown-skinned muggle from some God-forsaken country in South America,” I do not mean to offend. It was used to illustrate the prejudice of Ochs and his mother. As is seen in their reaction to muggles and muggle-borns, this is not out of character. It also is referring to a slightly less tolerant time in British and US history.  



	4. Chapter 4

After giving a note to Winky owl to Kingsley requesting a meeting later that day, Marie Therese took a shower and then sat at her dressing table to finish getting ready for the day. As she used a drying spell on her hair, she thought about the conversation with her cousin. _That vain, pretentious, pompous arse, he doesn’t even care about what he’s doing to that poor girl. He only cares about getting a pureblood virgin bride. I need to start looking for the counterspell right away. I have no idea when her eighteenth birthday is – for all I know it could be January second._

She thought back to her own wedding, remembering how lucky she was to escape that fate. She was nineteen when she married Stephan and though it was an arranged marriage, he was a good friend and she was not averse to the marriage. He had helped her through several rough patches during the war and had been friends when they married. She had grown to love him over time, but they were more friends than lovers.

She respected him and was glad to be his wife, and when they realized that they couldn’t have children, she decided make the most of her childless life, maintaining a healthy social life and eventually starting to take lovers on the side. She definitely made the most of her open marriage and her supposed sexual peak, she thought, smiling to herself as she performed a curling charm on her long dark hair.

Her thoughts drifted to Harry. Of the men she’d dated in the last decade, Harry was definitely special. _How could he not be? He was the savior of the wizarding world for Merlin’s sake!_ But he was so humble and sweet. She was glad that she was able to play a role in helping him through the aftermath of the war, which had been a difficult time for him. While the wizarding world was celebrating Voldemort’s downfall, he was in deep mourning for those who’d been lost, for those he thought he could have saved, and for the fact that he had to kill several Death Eaters before finally killing Voldemort. He still had his noble streak and some residual guilt, but she’d been able to help him get past his sorrow and move on with his life. As she applied her makeup, she remembered how he got to be where he was today.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Marie Therese had first met Harry three and a half years ago when she began attending Order of the Phoenix meetings at her cousin Sirius’s house, Grimmauld Place, during the summer of 1995. She had been a quiet supporter of the Order, not wanting to draw attention to her participation in the group. When Harry arrived that August she noticed that he mostly slumped around the house and avoided most contact with the adults. He was skinny, with dark circles under his eyes and a haunted look on his face. Her dormant motherly instincts kicked in and she, like Molly Weasley, wanted to feed him and hug him until he smiled again.

Marie Therese knew Harry's story and had followed it since he was a baby. She was three years younger than James, Lily and their friends, and had limited contact with them in school. Following family tradition she was sorted into Slytherin, but had pulled away from her housemates when they began openly supported Voldemort in her second year. She spent much of her time with friends in Ravenclaw, as did other Slytherins who weren’t in Death Eater families. Ravenclaws proved to be safe allegiances because befriending Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs would have been seen as either flaunting their opposition too explicitly or stooping too low in their associations.

Spending time with Ravenclaws, however, didn’t stop her from admiring the four Marauders. She delighted in their pranks and secretly cheered them on as they tormented her Slytherin housemates. She wished she could have a closer relationship to them, given that Sirius was her second cousin and James was from an old pureblood family that had once been in her family’s social circle, but the times were too dangerous for her to openly consort with “mudblood lovers” and muggleborns.

She always regretted having to distance herself from Sirius. They’d grown up together and were still each other’s favorite cousins, but they had to keep their friendship a secret for her protection because he’d been estranged from his family by the time he finished his fifth year at Hogwarts. She had always harbored a secret crush on him, but could only watch from a distance as he dated every girl in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. She hoped that they could be better friends once they both left school and began their adult lives, away from their families.

She quietly kept up with the Marauders after they graduated and was thrilled for James and Lilly when they married and had little Harry. She had planned to get reacquainted with them after the end of her seventh year, but her parents sent her abroad for her protection after the war began to hit too close to home. When the Potters were killed and Voldemort was vanquished, she was too wrapped up in her own circumstances to mourn their deaths or worry too much about the fate of the little boy who appeared to have defeated the Dark Lord.

After Sirius was convicted of killing thirteen muggles shortly thereafter, she didn’t know what to believe, but since everyone, including his best friend Remus, believed that he was guilty, she assumed that he had reverted back to his family’s ways and didn’t seriously question his conviction.

She’d heard bits and pieces about Harry’s life after his parents died and knew that he had been sent to live with muggle relatives, and that he’d started Hogwarts when he turned eleven. She learned of his brave feats during the Tri-Wizard tournament and his tragic meeting with Voldemort after the final task. She had read the _Daily Prophet_ accounts of his alleged instability that summer, but she knew the truth about Voldemort’s return because of her friendship with Dumbledore and her connection with the Order of the Phoenix.

When Remus came to her the day after the end of the tournament, asking for her support as they regrouped to fight the rising tide of dark forces, she wholeheartedly agreed to participate. She had seen too much death caused by Voldemort and his Death Eaters during the first war, especially within her own family, to stand on the sidelines. She decided to play a very quiet role in their activities, as she didn’t want to jeopardize her husband’s Ministry career or their standing in the wizarding community. She primarily provided financial backing and only attended occasional meetings, but was pivotal in providing information on Death Eater families and Ministry activities. Stephan knew of her work with the Order and supported her, but remained officially neutral because of his position in the Ministry’s diplomatic corps.

After Dumbledore’s death, Marie Therese continued to attend Order meetings, as they continued to work to prevent and investigate an increasing number of muggle killings and help the Aurors to track down dark wizards. She knew that Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione had gone out on some mission for Dumbledore, the details of which they refused to share. Even Remus and Minerva McGonagall, who’d taken over leadership of the group, were in the dark about their activities. They’d given them their grudging support, however, and provided them with updates and supplies when needed. Marie Therese used her extensive contacts throughout Europe to help them find safe houses and assistance abroad when they needed it.

Marie Therese didn’t see Harry again until six months later in December when he, Ron, and Hermione returned from their mission. Harry was just as skinny as he’d ever been but also looked as though he’d aged ten years. She saw in him a look of grim determination and an intensity that reflected a sole drive and purpose – to kill the bastard who had killed his parents and threatened his world. While he still occasionally looked like a lost little boy, she thought that he’d definitely grown up.

Upon returning to The Burrow for Christmas the trio had decided to tell Remus and Minerva about the prophesy that had been made before Harry’s birth, which said that Harry was the only one who could kill Voldemort. They also told them about Voldemort’s horcruxes and Dumbledore’s search that they had assumed that summer and fall; and they delivered the good news that they had destroyed all but one of the horcruxes.

Remus convinced the trio to let the Order help them in the remainder of their quest. They believed the final horcrux was Voldemort’s snake, Nagini, and knew that they would probably find her close by his side. The Order had not had any luck finding the Dark Lord and knew that he had been hiding, biding his time until he could come after Harry. For his part, Harry knew that he couldn’t find him on his own, so he agreed to let the Order help track him down and run interference with the Death Eaters to allow Harry to get to Voldemort and fulfill the prophecy.

They spent several months planning and training. Harry trained in dueling and martial arts, worked on improving his physical condition, ran miles each day, and learned dozens of new spells. Hermione spent much of her time at the Hogwarts library researching ways to protect Harry during the battle to ensure he found his target. Ron spent his time working with other Order members, searching out where Voldemort and his followers were hiding and trying to prevent the muggle killings that seemed to be increasing.

Ron’s sister Ginny, who hadn’t gone to Hogwarts that year, refused to be left out of the preparations. She – with the assistance of Harry, Hermione and Ron – convinced her parents to let her join the Order, got permission to use magic out of school and take the apparition test six months early, and began training in martial arts and dueling with Harry. Marie Therese noticed that the two had a special bond as they worked together. She wondered now and then if they were romantically involved, but all she ever saw between them was a sibling-like relationship.

Members of Dumbledore’s Army, which Harry had started in his fifth year at Hogwarts, also trained with the Order. Those who had left school joined the Order and trained with the rest of the adults, while those still at Hogwarts, including Neville Longbottom, worked secretly with Professor McGonagall and with Kingsley Shacklebolt, who floo’d to the school weekly to train the students.

In May they finally found Voldemort’s hideout – an old mansion in Devon owned by the Malfoys – and planned their attack for the first of June. On the day of the attack, a group of sixty Order members, seventh year DA members, and Aurors arrived at the house and found it guarded by at least that many Death Eaters. Their plan was to take out as many Death Eaters as they could with special explosive devices created by the Weasley twins and to fight the rest with wands and hand-to-hand combat, which all Order members had been trained in. Harry was to fight alongside the other Order members, protected by a special shielding spell that Hermione had developed to allow him to survive the fighting with the Death Eaters to get to where Voldemort was hiding.

Marie Therese and a few older or injured members of the Order had stayed behind at headquarters to help coordinate behind the scenes and provide medical care. Marie Therese had trained in basic magical healing techniques and was prepared to work with Madame Pomfrey to treat those brought back to headquarters or transport the ones with more serious injuries to St. Mungo’s.

During the battle they were able to kill or capture most of the Death Eaters with only a few casualties on their side. They lost a few of their friends, including Neville Longbottom, who had died in a duel in which he killed Bellatrix Lestrange, Marie Therese’s deranged cousin who’d killed Sirius and tortured Neville’s parents so long ago. He’d shot a reductor curse above Bellatrix’s head, causing a wall of bricks to crush the witch as she cast the killing curse, which hit Neville before he had a chance to see her die.

Tonks, Hermione and Ron were detailed to protect Harry as they searched for Voldemort’s hideout. Ginny was also at his side to keep him calm and ensure that the shield spell stayed in place. Harry had been instructed to avoid weakening his shield spell by staying out of the line of fire, but, true to his nature, he kept jumping in to help his friends. At one point in the battle when Tonks and Ron were preoccupied with fending off attack, Harry sent a stunning spell at a Death Eater who was about to attack Hermione. While Harry was distracted, Lucius Malfoy approached from behind and was in the process of sending a curse at him when Ron pushed his friend out of the way. Malfoy then had a clear shot at Ron and cast an _Avada Kedavra_ curse at him, but Ginny was close enough to the Death Eater to knock the wand out of his hand with her arm, sending the killing curse off course. Harry and Ginny watched in horror as the green light of the curse glanced off the side of Ron’s head, sending their friend and brother crashing into a wall with a sickening crunch.

Harry screamed as he watched his best mate fall to the floor and turned back to Malfoy to cast his first and only Unforgivable curse. The _Avada Kedavra_ curse hit Malfoy squarely in the chest and the Death Eater dropped dead to the floor.

Harry stood staring at Malfoy, unable to move, but Ginny flew into action, checking for a pulse on her brother’s neck and yelling for Hermione to take him back to headquarters. Hermione apparated with Ron to Grimmauld Place, while Ginny turned her attention to Harry, snapping him out of his shock, ensuring that his protection spell was still in place, and encouraging him to continue with the fight.

And fight he did. Out of his anger and grief at the thought of losing Ron, he killed two more Death Eaters with the _sectumsempra_ spell that he’d learned in his sixth year. After the second Death Eater fell to the floor with blood gushing from his neck, Ginny pulled Harry to the side and begged him to calm down. She reminded him of his goal, told him that killing more Death Eaters wouldn’t ensure Ron’s recovery, and threatened to stun him until it was time to do his job if he didn’t focus on the task at hand. He agreed to proceed with more caution from that point on and largely stayed out of the fighting as they looked for Voldemort.

Once most of the Death Eaters had been killed or captured, and Ginny had gone back to Grimmauld Place to have a broken ankle healed, Harry, along with Remus, Tonks and Kingsley, found Voldemort’s lair in the dungeon of the house, which was defended by a few remaining followers who were taken by surprise and quickly stunned and bound. When they entered the room, they found Voldemort sitting in throne-like chair with his snake curled by his side.

Remus aimed his wand and shot a _reducto_ curse at the snake. Like the other horcruxes, Nagini was not so easily destroyed, and reared up to strike the werewolf. Tonks fired a _protego_ to protect Remus before Nagini could reach him, while Kingsley sent an _Avada_ curse at the snake. The spell caused Nagini to burst into flames and fall into a pile of ashes.

With an arrogance born of thinking himself immortal and being ignorant of Harry’s special training and skills, Voldemort rose and shot an _Avada_ curse at the young wizard. Tonks, realizing that the special protection around Harry had worn off, dove in front of him, taking the curse before she landed on the floor in front of the Dark Lord.

Watching Tonks’s body fall to the floor, her lifeless eyes staring up at him, Harry screamed in outrage, “That’s the last one! She’s the LAST one you’ll ever kill, you bastard!” He lunged at Voldemort, pulling a dagger out of a holster on his leg and plunging it deep into Voldemort’s chest.

Knowing that it was important to have strategies for both hand-to-hand combat and magical combat in case one failed, Harry had trained in the use of this special dagger. It was created by Godric Gryffindor and had been left to Harry by Dumbledore. Its handle was emblazoned with the Gryffindor crest set in red rubies, and its blade was fatal to any enemy of any Gryffindor who wielded it. It had been kept in a special warded casket in the Hogwarts vault and Dumbledore had left instructions for it to be given to Harry for this purpose.

Harry held the dagger in Voldemort’s chest, channeling all of his magic into the blade, merging his own with Gryffindor’s ancient power. He kept his grip firm as the evil wizard screamed and clutched at Harry’s hand. Then he gasped as Voldemort’s body shriveled up and virtually disappeared into the floor, leaving nothing but a pile of robes and ashes.

Shaking as he dropping the dagger, Harry collapsed on the floor, exhausted by the rush of power, magic, and adrenaline.

Remus, who was crouched over Tonks’s body, moved over to Harry, terrified that he’d lost him as well as his fiancé. He held his fingers to the boy’s neck and was relieved to find a weak but steady pulse. He and Kingsley decided that Harry would be best cared for at Order headquarters, where Poppy Pomfrey was waiting with her medical supplies.

Remus agreed to stay behind to notify the remaining Order members of Voldemort’s demise and Harry’s condition, and to stand guard over Tonks’s body. After gathering Harry into his arms, the last thing Kingsley saw as he apparated away was Remus kneeling over his fiancé’s lifeless body, his shoulders shaking with shock and grief.


	5. Chapter 5

In the aftermath of the battle, the remaining Aurors dealt with Voldemort’s remains, rounded up the remaining stunned or bound Death Eaters, and transported them to the Ministry for questioning. The remaining Order and DA members returned to headquarters, where they found Marie Therese and the others waiting. Those with minor wounds were treated on the spot and the ones with more severe injuries, including Ron, whose head injury was quite serious, were taken to St. Mungo’s. Madame Pomfrey declared Harry to be in stable condition, so they allowed him to rest at Grimmauld Place while the rest of the Weasleys went straight to the hospital to be with Ron.

They learned that that when Ron was hit in the head by the glancing blow of Lucius Malfoy’s _Avada_ curse, the combination of the spell and the blow caused sufficient brain damage to put him into a coma. The healers had stabilized him and repaired the damage, but told the Weasleys that they did not know if or when he’d recover. He was stable and the rest of his body was functioning, which was a good sign, but they would have to wait and see.

The healers recommended that Ron have loved ones nearby twenty-four hours a day, talking to him, touching him and stroking his hand. They’d found that constant touch and the sound of a loved one’s voice helped keep the patient’s consciousness closer to the surface, thereby aiding recovery. So Hermione and the Weasleys began their round-the-clock vigil, holding his hand and talking to him continuously.

Harry awoke in his room at Grimmauld Place the next morning with a headache and dizzy spells, but demanded to see Ron at St. Mungo’s. Madame Pomfrey agreed to help him floo to the hospital and though he was still weak, he too began his own vigil by his best friend’s bedside.

Harry refused to leave Ron’s bedside to meet with Ministry officials, give interviews, or join in the celebrations. He stayed by Ron’s bed day and night with Hermione and Ron’s family, and they all took turns sitting with him, holding his hand and talking to him. Harry talked to him about the day they first met on the train, their first year at Hogwarts, and every adventure they’d had together since then. He refused to leave his friend’s bedside and pushed himself to exhaustion, resisting everyone’s urging to rest and recover from his own injuries. When Ginny once again threatened to stun him for his own good, she was met with such a death glare that even she backed down and let him stay by Ron’s side.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Marie Therese found that her talents and connections were quite useful to the family during this time of crisis. She used her position on the board of St. Mungo’s to secure a special suite of rooms on the top floor of the hospital for Ron and for his family and friends to use while they sat with him. The suite included Ron’s room, which connected to the main part of the hospital for healer access, and three private rooms for the family to sleep, relax, eat, and receive visitors.

To avoid the influx of well-wishers and reporters clamoring for interviews with The-Boy-Who-Defeated-You-Know-Who-For-Good, Marie Therese arranged for a private floo hookup from the hospital suite to The Burrow, the twins’ joke shop, Grimmauld Place, the Granger’s home, and Werdenberg Manor. This allowed Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys to come and go without seeing a single reporter.

Marie Therese acted as spokesperson for Harry and the Weasleys and was at the hospital every day to help the staff deal with the visitors, reporters, and requests for interviews. Harry had given his official report to the Ministry in a pensieve, but he had not given any media interviews or spoken to any government officials, as Marie Therese had shielded him from both the Ministry and the public.

She spent the next few weeks flooing back and forth to St. Mungo’s, helping out where she could and spending time with the family during their vigil. She would convince them to take breaks and rest, some sleeping in the other rooms in the suite, some flooing home. She tried to bring in meals prepared by her house elves, but Molly insisted on preparing evening meals at The Burrow and delivering the food to the family in the suite. Marie Therese had offered to help or enlist her house elves to assist her, but Molly insisted that cooking for her family was therapeutic.

After a week passed with no change in Ron’s condition, Arthur, Bill, Percy and the twins went back to work but floo’d to the hospital every night. Molly, Ginny, and Charlie – who was still on extended leave from the dragon reserve – remained at the hospital during the day with Hermione and Harry and they took turns holding Ron’s hand and working his unresponsive body though passive exercises designed to avoid muscular degeneration.

Marie Therese began spending more time with Harry during this period. Knowing that he was hurting from guilt and pain from the battle, she often made a point of pulling the young man aside to sit with her in one of the quiet sitting rooms and trying to get him to talk. At first he would only sit and stare silently at the floor, but through her quiet and patient ways she was eventually able to get him to open up about the events of the previous year. She got him to talk about the horcrux hunt, the final battle, his parents, and the loss of their many friends who’d died in the war. He remained stoic and never showed his emotions, but she could tell that he still felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, despite the fact that the prophecy had been fulfilled and he was finally free to live his own life.

Marie Therese saw how much Harry was hurting for the loss of many loved ones, most recently Tonks and Neville. Molly had told her about Harry’s tendency to carry feelings of guilt when his friends were hurt, and she could see that Harry believed that every injury and death was his fault, that people died either protecting him or from simply being associated with him. He had carried the deaths of Cedric, Sirius, and Dumbledore, and now he added the guilt over the death of his friend Tonks, the fiancé of his parents’ last remaining friend.

Remus stopped by on occasion, looking tired and worn, but Harry would not look him in the eye or talk to him alone, which seemed to hurt the older wizard. Marie Therese noticed this tension and truly hoped the two men would work through their problems and repair their friendship since they now needed each other more than ever. Harry told her that he wanted to give Remus ownership of Grimmauld Place. He knew that Sirius would have wanted it, but he also felt that having a stable home and safe place for his transformations might ease the pain of losing his fiancé. He felt it was the least he could do, given that he’d been the reason why Remus was now alone.

Most of all, Harry still felt enormous guilt over Ron’s condition, despite Marie Therese’s reassurances that his friend’s injury was not his fault. Harry knew that if Ron hadn’t tried to protect him, Malfoy wouldn’t have fired the killing curse at him; if he’d only been quicker he could have stopped Malfoy from aiming at Ron; if Ron wasn’t his best friend, he wouldn’t have been there in the first place.

He confessed to Marie Therese that his greatest fear was losing the love of the Weasleys if Ron should die. No matter how many times Marie Therese assured him of their unconditional love for him as a part of their family, he could not let go of that fear. They were his only real family and he was terrified of losing them.

She was touched by Harry’s devotion to Ron, who she knew was his first and best friend. She watched as he sat by his bed every day reading aloud from the _Daily Prophet_ – mostly Quidditch scores and articles about the final battle – and talking to him about their days at Hogwarts. She would find him by Ron’s bed when she flooed there in the mornings and he would be there when she stopped by after her evening meetings. He never left Ron’s side except to take breaks to talk with her when she came by the suite. His face lit up whenever she walked into the room and by the end of the second week of their vigil it had become a welcome ritual.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

By the start of the third week Ron’s condition had not changed and the group was beginning to show signs of fatigue and discouragement. Hermione had dark circles under her eyes and had barely left Ron’s side to shower or eat, despite Molly’s urging. Molly and Arthur had agreed to let Hermione and Harry take the night shifts, so they took turns sleeping in the spare room or in the camp bed next to Ron. To the detriment of her health, Hermione stayed up late reading medical books on Ron’s condition that she had borrowed from the hospital library. Harry, still recovering from the final battle, was persuaded to sleep in the adjoining room, but often slept only a few hours each night, preferring to sit by Ron’s bedside to talk to his unconscious friend and hold his hand.

Marie Therese would often stop by late in the evening to find Hermione asleep on the camp bed (or sometimes, when Molly wasn’t around, in Ron’s bed with her arm draped over his chest) and Harry dozing in a chair. She would wake Harry up and guide him to one of the other rooms where he would fall into the bed and sleep in his clothes, covered by a blanket that she’d lay over him before flooing home.

One evening, after the Weasleys had apparated home for the night, she found Harry and Hermione in their usual locations – her asleep on her cot and him dozing on his chair. When Marie Therese put a gentle hand on Harry’s shoulder, he opened his eyes, nodded, and shuffled to the other room. As he lay down on the bed, she laid a blanket over him and tucked it around his body. She looked down at the young man as his eyes drifted shut, taking in his messy raven hair and his open and vulnerable face. On impulse, she leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. He opened his eyes, looking up at her in surprise, then gave her a small smile and closed his eyes again as sleep overtook him.

She sat next to Harry on the bed and stroked his hair softly, amazed at how much affection she felt toward him at that moment. He’d been so strong and brave for so long, but sometimes she was reminded that he was still just a young and vulnerable boy. As she looked down at him, she felt a sharp pang in her chest. She was sure that the affection she felt for Harry was of a maternal sort, since she was, after all, only a few years younger than his mother. But sometimes she wondered if she harbored some other kind of feeling for this young, brave man who’d begun to hold a special place in her heart.


	6. Chapter 6

For the next week they continued their vigil – Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys by Ron’s bed and Marie Therese running interference with the hospital administration and the public.

One day at the end of the third week, they were surprised and elated when the healers found signs of improved brain activity during Ron’s morning exam, which was an indication that he was coming closer to consciousness. By noon he had moved his fingers in Hermione’s hand and opened his eyes briefly. Throughout the day he seemed to awaken more and more, and by the end of the day could even speak a few words to his thrilled family. He couldn’t stay awake or talk for more than a few minutes and his speech was slurred, but the healers, after conducting a battery of tests in the late afternoon, felt confident that he would make a full recovery and be able to leave the hospital within a week or two.

Harry and Hermione were especially relieved and after the healers left they spent a half hour in one of the sitting rooms, holding each other as the young witch sobbed into her friend’s chest in relief and exhaustion, out of earshot of Molly and Arthur, who were attending to Ron in his hospital room.

That evening, the family celebrated in the adjoining rooms as Ron slept next door. Remus, Kingsley, Minerva and other members of the Order stopped by to celebrate with the happy family. Molly brought some of her special baked treats and Fred and George brought in some bottles of butterbeer, snacks, and a never-empty bottle of Firewhiskey disguised as pumpkin juice. They celebrated and drank into the evening, a silencing charm around the rooms to avoid disturbing their neighbors or attracting the attention of the healers.

Marie Therese stopped by during a break from an evening hospital board meeting to have a piece of treacle tart and a glass of champagne. She hated to miss the celebration but the meeting was important and the discussions dragged out late into the evening.

She stopped by the suite around midnight before heading home to find the party over and only Harry and Hermione remaining with Ron. Hermione had fallen asleep on her side with Ron curled protectively behind her, like spoons, and Harry was in his usual place, dozing in his chair on the other side of the bed. She smiled at the trio, pleased that they were reunited once again, happy and whole. Ron and Hermione would begin their lives together and Harry could start living his own life without the prophecy or a dark lord hanging over his head. She thought about how proud she was of them for how much they had accomplished in their young lives, and she brushed away a tear as she watched them in the peaceful sleep they’d been denied for so long.

Marie Therese looked for a moment at Harry, as she often did when she found him sleeping in his chair. She considered his messy raven hair, his smooth skin, the soft pout of his lips, the shadow of razor stubble on his chin, the way his shirt stretched across his chest and his biceps, and she fought back a twinge of desire. _Oh Merlin_ , she thought, _I can’t have these feelings for him. He’s still just a boy._

“Hi Therese,” said Harry quietly. Marie Therese started, embarrassed that he’d caught her staring at his body, and her eyes flicked up to see him looking up at her with his bright green eyes. “Done with your meeting? You missed quite a party,” he said as he yawned and reached his arms above his head.

“Yes, we just finished. It was a long and very drawn out one. Those blowhards on the board never know when to shut up,” she said with a soft chuckle, trying not to stare at his chest as his shirt tightened across it.

He smiled up at her. “Do you want to stay and chat for a bit? There’s still some food and maybe some of that champagne that Remus brought by.”

They heard Hermione shifting in the bed and he whispered, “Let’s go in the other room so we don’t wake the lovebirds.”

Marie Therese smiled and nodded, and they both walked into the adjoining room. He closed the door while she used her wand to light a few candles. She grabbed a half-full bottle of champagne that was sitting on the counter and poured them each a glass as Harry took a seat on the sofa.

She sat next to him, handed him his glass and clinked hers against it. “To Ron. May he live and love for many years to come.”

He raised his glass up as he smiled and repeated, “To Ron,” and took a sip.

“You must be very relieved, Harry. It’s finally over now that Ron’s okay. Now you can move on with your life,” she said as she smiled at him.

“Yeah, it’s great,” he replied without much enthusiasm, taking a sip of his drink without looking at her. She looked at him closely and noticed that he didn’t look very happy. Was he just tired? Had he had too much to drink at the party? Or was he still feeling guilty? She had gotten to know him well enough over the past three weeks to believe that it was guilt that was keeping him from being happy.

She put a hand on his knee. “Harry, you’ve been such a good friend to Ron. I’m sure he appreciates everything you’ve done for him while he’s been here. Not everyone would have given up their time in the limelight to sit by a friend’s bedside day after day, especially when he had so many other loved ones to sit with him.”

“He’s been my best mate since I was eleven, Therese,” he said softly. “He was the very first friend I ever had. He stood by me, risked his life for me so many times that I’ve lost count. I couldn’t leave him, not when he needed me.” He drained his glass and put it down on the table, leaning back and wiping his hands over his face.

“You’re a good person, Harry,” Marie Therese said. “You’ve done so much for so many people.”

“That’s just it, Therese, I’m not a good person. I only did what I had to do, what the prophecy told me to do,” Harry said glumly, staring at the ceiling. “Ron almost died because of me. After all the Weasleys have done for me, I dragged their son into battle and he almost got killed trying to protect me.”

“Harry, he went willingly. All of the Weasleys did,” she insisted. “Even Ginny.”

He pressed the heels of his hands over his eyes.

“Oh God, Therese, I killed three Death Eaters,” Harry said. “I could have stunned them, like the Aurors taught us, but I killed them in cold blood. I used an unforgivable on Malfoy when I could have just stunned him. And I used a bloody barbaric curse on the other two, even though I knew just what it did. What kind of person does that make me?” he asked angrily, pulling his hands away from his face and glaring at her.

Marie Therese moved closer to him and put her hand on his shoulder. “Harry, you…” she began.

“And I could have saved Tonks,” he continued, ignoring her. “She died trying to save me…. right in front of Remus. Oh God, Remus…..” he stopped, eyes closed, his face contorted in anguish.

Tears rolled down his cheeks, the first tears Marie Therese had ever seen Harry cry in the short time that she’d known him. He bent over and put his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. She could see his shoulders shaking as he started to sob, the floodgates opening as he finally let out the emotions that had been building over the years.

Marie Therese slid next to him and placed a comforting hand on his back, then changed her mind and pulled him into her arms, pressing his body up against hers and tucking his head beneath her chin. She stroked his hair and tried to calm him as he sobbed into her robes.

“Shhhh, shhhh…. It’s okay…. It’s all over now.… None of this is your fault, you know…. You did brilliantly… You saved so many people…. You saved us all….. You’re a true hero, you really are….You _are_ a good person and you have so many people who love you.” _Including me_ , she thought, surprised at the realization.

She rocked him and whispered reassurances as she let him cry and get everything out of his system, stroking his head soothingly. Her heart broke for the young man in her arms, but she knew that the dam that had finally broken, which could only help his recovery.

“Let it out, Schatz. You’re safe here with me. You can let it out now,” she soothed and she stroked his hair as he continued to sob into her robes.

After a few minutes the shaking slowed and she heard him sniffle as he pulled away slightly to wipe his face on his sleeve. “I’m sorry, Therese. I don’t know what came over me,” he said, looking at his lap and avoiding her gaze as he continued to sniff and wipe at his face.

“It’s alright, Harry,” she said, pulling a handkerchief out of her bag and handing it to him. “You needed to get that out of your system – I’m sure it’s been building up for a while. I imagine you wouldn’t want to cry in front of your friends, so that’s what I’m here for.”

She leaned her head down to place a kiss on his messy head, but at that same moment he tilted his head up, looked into her eyes, leaned up and kissed her on the lips. He pulled back and she looked at him, shocked and concerned that he wasn’t in his right mind. But looking into his intense green eyes she saw only coherent desire. Despite her misgivings, she returned the kiss tentatively, realizing just how much she’d grown to adore this passionate young man.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. He moved his hands into her hair and she moaned into his mouth, reveling in the feel of his lips against hers. He explored her mouth with his tongue, which only fed her desire, driving her to run her hands into his hair and pull him closer.

After a minute of fervent kissing, he suddenly broke away and scrambled to the other end of the sofa, his face a mask of shock and shame.

“Therese! I’m so sorry... I didn’t mean to…,” he sputtered. “You’re married! I wasn’t thinking… We can’t… I’m sorry!” He bent over and rested his elbows on his knees with his face in his hands. She started to reach over to him, to reassure him that it didn’t matter, but she hesitated. Her conscience told her that to continue kissing him would be taking advantage of his weakened emotional state, so she pulled back.

“It’s okay, Harry, you didn’t do anything wrong, nothing wrong at all,” she said soothingly. She sat looking at him for a few seconds, letting her breathing return to normal. Then she stood up and said softly, “You’re exhausted and neither of us are in our right minds right now. Why don’t I go home and we can talk about this tomorrow after we’ve both had some sleep and we can think rationally, okay?”

Therese walked to the end of the sofa and looked down at Harry, who was still looking at his feet. He nodded slowly and then looked up at her with confusion in his eyes. She leaned down, kissing him softly on the lips before stepping away from him. She picked up a blanket from the end of the couch and handed it to him. “Get some rest and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

She walked over to the floo and turned back to look back at Harry, who was staring at her from his spot on the couch. She paused for a moment, but then grabbed a handful of floo power, called out “Werdenberg Manor”, and stepped into the flames to floo back to her cold and lonely house.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

 

Marie Therese tried to forget the kiss, knowing that she shouldn’t take advantage of Harry’s vulnerable state. He needed time by himself to recover from everything he’d been through, and although he was of legal age, the difference was just too great, so she resigned herself to putting a stop to this… thing… before it went too far. She repeated this as her mantra as she flooed to Ron’s suite at St. Mungo’s the next day just before noon, with the excuse of coming to the hospital for a meeting with the administrator. 

 

She found Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Molly sitting in Ron’s room. Ron was propped against the headboard, playing a game of chess with Harry, while Molly knitted by the bed and Hermione and Ginny chatted quietly in the corner. Ron looked as though he still wasn’t quite awake, but he seemed to have enough attention to concentrate on the game pieces, which moved according to his quiet directions. The healers said that most people didn’t fully awaken from comas to jump right back into their daily routines, and it would take a while for him to be fully functioning and fully awake. He did seem to be making very good progress from what she could see, given how long he had been unconscious.

 

“Good morning everyone,” Marie Therese greeted the group as she walked into the room. Harry looked up at her with a shy smile and she smiled back, hoping nobody else saw their exchange.

 

“Hello, Ron, how are you feeling?” she asked, stopping by his bed.

 

He shrugged his shoulders and looked at her a little blearily, “Okay, I guess.” 

 

“I’m so glad. It’s good to see you up and about,” she said, putting her hand on his shoulder. “Your family is quite happy to have you back.” He nodded in response before turning back to the chessboard.

 

“Good morning, Therese,” greeted Molly, looking up from her knitting. “Here on business?” 

 

“Yes, I’ll be meeting with the Hospital Board at one o’clock, but I wanted to stop by early to have a chat with Harry about his press conference tomorrow.” She turned to Harry. “Care to join me for a bit of lunch in the café?” 

 

“Sure,” he said, wiping his hands on his jeans before standing up. “Ron’s kicking my arse around the chessboard, so it’s a good time to break. It doesn’t look like he lost any of his chess abilities while he was asleep,” Harry replied, grinning at Ron and giving him a light slug on the shoulder as he walked toward the door. “Can you finish my game for me, Ginny?” 

 

Harry and Marie Therese walked in awkward silence to the hospital café, and as they ate their sandwiches they talked about Ron’s first full day of recovery and his good prognosis. His family planned on taking him home in a week or so and Harry was going to stay at The Burrow with them for a while to help Ron get back on his feet. 

 

They talked a bit about the upcoming press conference, in which Harry would give a prepared statement about the final battle. They agreed that he would keep to the basic facts, not elaborate on details, and only take a few questions. He was nervous, but Marie Therese assured him that he would be fine and that she and Remus would be there by his side. He and Remus were preparing his short speech and Marie Therese was going to look it over later that afternoon. She had asked Remus to work with Harry on the speech as a way to get the pair talking again and was pleased to see them working together on it before the party the previous night.

 

After avoiding the topic for almost a half hour, Harry finally decided to bring up the kiss. 

 

“Therese, I’m sorry about last night. I don’t know what came over me. I would never have kissed you if I hadn’t been so tired and drained from my little breakdown.” He was embarrassed that he’d been so emotional but was glad he’d been with her and not Ron or any of the Weasleys, who he didn’t want to burden with his own selfish problems. 

 

Harry looked so ashamed and so cute that Marie Therese couldn’t resist teasing him. “What? You didn’t mean to kiss me? You didn’t __want__ to kiss me? Am I so repulsive?” she asked in a scandalized tone. 

 

He almost knocked over his teacup as he reached forward to touch her arm to reassure her. “Of course I meant it! After all, you are so beautiful and so amazing!” He blushed and looked down at the remaining tea in his cup, and she waved her wand to banish the tea he’d sloshed on the table and refill his cup. 

 

“I mean, who wouldn’t want to kiss you? I just feel so horrible for kissing a married woman,” Harry said as he looked into her eyes. 

 

Marie Therese couldn’t believe that the man who sat in front of her, the man who killed the worst dark wizard in fifty years, was so bashful and vulnerable. 

 

“Harry, I was only teasing you,” she said, placing a reassuring hand on his arm. “But I have to let you in on a little secret. You are not the first man I’ve kissed since I’ve been married.” 

 

Harry looked up in alarm. “What?” he asked, clearly shocked by her admission.

 

“My husband and I have a sort of … agreement,” she said slowly, not sure how he would take this information, given his limited experience with relationships and with real life. “Stephan and I have more of a business partnership between friends than a romantic marriage, if that makes sense. We both know that that he’s gone for much of the year and that I’m here alone most of the time, so and he turns a blind eye to what I do and I turn a blind eye to what he does,” she said with a shrug. 

 

Harry gulped. “So you don’t love him?” 

 

“I do love him,” she reassured him. “But you see, marriages like ours are entered into for very different reasons than most. Ours was designed to merge two wealthy pureblood families. We love each other, but not for the same reasons that other couples do. Do you understand what I mean?” She looked into his eyes. 

 

“Yeah, I guess.” Harry had only the Dursleys and the Weasleys as models, so he didn’t have a lot of other marriages for comparison. He had hoped that the Weasleys’ marriage was what typical marriages were like – loving, openly affectionate, honest, and faithful. But he supposed that not every marriage was like theirs and perhaps there were other models that worked.

 

“So why didn’t you tell me this last night? Why did you leave?” Harry asked, his insecurity plain on his face. 

 

“I figured we were both too tired and there were too many emotions to talk about it rationally. I felt like I was taking advantage of you. You’ve been through so much these past few months. Years really. You’re not ready to make rational decisions about these kinds of things.” 

 

Harry looked annoyed and was about to contradict her, but she held up a hand to stop him.

 

“Now, I know you don’t like people making decisions for you, but Harry, I’m only a few years younger than your mother. Hell, I’m __old enough__ to be your mother! You can’t actually want to be with someone as old as me,” she said softly, exposing one her own insecurities.

 

“Therese, I __do__ want to be with you!” Harry said emphatically. “I’ve been thinking about you ever since that night last week when you kissed me. It felt so good to be taken care of and at first I thought it felt like I was being tucked in by Mrs. Weasley or my own mother.” 

 

He looked at her shyly. “Did you know that after that night, I purposely fell asleep, or rather __pretended__ to sleep, in the chair because I loved having you wake me up and tuck me into the bed every night?”

 

Marie Therese looked back at him and smiled, shaking her head. “No, I didn’t know. So you only saw me as a maternal type?”

 

“I’m not sure exactly. Before that night I didn’t know how I felt about you. I thought you were beautiful but I’d never thought about you that way. I was so used to only looking at girls my own age, it had never occurred to me. But when you kissed me on the forehead, I realized that I wished you’d kissed me on the lips instead.” He stopped, fiddling with his teaspoon for a moment before continuing. 

 

“I realized that I wanted more. I just didn’t know how to approach you. You’re so much more experienced than I am and used to much more experienced men.” He blushed as he looked down at the table, and it dawned on her that he was probably still a virgin. 

 

“I understand,” reassured Marie Therese. “You haven’t had any time to have fun and just be a teenager and date girls. Most people probably don’t realize how hard it is for The Chosen One to get laid.”

 

Harry was shocked by her comment but looked up to see her smiling at him and smiled back. “Yeah, I imagine I did have opportunities, but I was too busy dealing with a dark wizard messing around in my head to do anything about it. Maybe I should have taken more advantage of my fame. Who knows how many girls I could have shagged?” he quipped, smiling slyly at her. 

 

She laughed and patted him on the arm. “I can’t really see you doing that, Harry. You’re not exactly the love ‘em and leave ‘em type,” she said, smiling at him.

 

He smiled back, looking into her eyes. “So do you want to give it a try, Therese?” 

 

“I don’t know, Harry. I really do care about you and find you so darn cute that I can’t resist,” she teased. 

 

“Cute? Not sexy? Not ruggedly handsome?” he teased back with a glint in his green eyes, revealing to her a hint of the man that he was becoming. 

 

“Of course! But I didn’t want to stroke your ego too much. Given that you are the savior of the wizarding world, if you had any more boosts to your ego you’d never come back down to earth with us mortals,” she chided.

 

“Hardly!” Harry laughed and blushed as he looked at her. “So can I take you to dinner sometime, Therese?” he asked, his heart in his eyes.

 

Marie Therese paused. “I don’t think that would be a good idea,” she said, and she saw his face fall. 

 

“Harry, do you really want to be seen having dinner in public with a married woman, given your celebrity status?” she asked. Harry looked around the café and noticed for the first time that people were giving them curious glances. 

 

She continued. “The only reason we can have lunch here is because I am your representative and we have business to discuss. But dinner would look far too suspicious. What do you think the __Daily Prophet__ would say?” 

 

“I can only imagine,” he groaned.

 

“Why don’t you come by my house for dinner tomorrow night?” she said brightly. “I’ll have Winky prepare us something. Maybe she’ll get Dobby to come help. I’m sure he’d love to see you.” 

 

“Oh Merlin, I’ll have to brace myself for the onslaught when I get there. He tends to worship me in the most unfortunate ways.” Harry said with a chuckle, remembering the times Dobby nearly killed him with his enthusiasm. 

 

“So, will you come tomorrow night?” she asked.

 

“Sure, I’d love to,” he said, smiling at her with a shy grin that caused Marie Therese’s heart to melt.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

 

Harry showed up at Werdenberg Manor the next night with a bouquet of pink roses and a nervous smile. He’d left Hermione, Ginny, Molly, and Arthur at the hospital with Ron, telling them that he needed a night alone to go through some of his things that were being stored at Grimmauld Place. He didn’t want to tell them where he was really going, as he had agreed to keep his date a secret for now. 

 

Marie Therese gave him a tour of the grand manor, which her husband had inherited from his family. The Werdenberg estate had several buildings, including stables, staff quarters, and a guest lodge. The three-hundred year old manor was grand and expensively furnished but still had a homey feel to most of its rooms. Marie Therese explained that she preferred comfortable furnishings, but she still had a lot of antiques handed down through several generations of Blacks and her family in Vienna. While Grimmauld Place held most of the darker furniture and artifacts, Marie Therese had claimed the family’s more pleasant and comfortable pieces.

 

They sat in the informal dining room and ate a wonderful meal that Winky had prepared for them. Dobby was thrilled to see Harry and attacked his legs the moment he walked in the room, but he left them alone once Harry agreed to pay the elf a visit at Hogwarts and give him a full account of the final battle. 

 

After dinner, Harry and Marie Therese sat side-by-side on the sofa in the comfortable and cozy lounge with after-dinner drinks, talking and looking into the fire. Marie Therese looked at Harry as he stared into the flickering flames and saw the lost boy she had seen the night before. She reached out to touch his arm and he turned and pulled her to him, pressing his lips to hers and kissing her with an aching intensity. She returned his kiss, sinking into his arms. They fell back into the passion they’d found the night before, and lingered on the sofa for what seemed like hours before moving to her bedroom for the first of many nights in her bed. 

 

Harry spent the next six months making love to Marie Therese, healing his emotional wounds, learning how to love, and finally finding the joy he thought he’d lost in the many years he’d spent fighting Voldemort. The war was finally over, his family and friends were, for the most part, happy and whole, and he could finally begin his life. He regained his strength, his stamina, and his joy for life. 

 

Harry moved into The Burrow when Ron was released from St. Mungo’s and Hermione moved back in with her parents to spend time with them before starting her wizarding career. 

 

Once Ron had sufficiently recovered, the trio spent the rest of the summer studying for their N.E.W.T.’s, which they would need to take before starting their careers – saviors of the wizarding world or not – tutored by Remus and Professor McGonagall. 

 

Harry could have spent the remainder of the summer at The Burrow, but he wanted to spend time with Remus, so he moved into Grimmauld Place. The two began renovating the old house, removing the remaining dark artifacts, finally destroying the picture of Sirius’s mother, and making the house a bright and sunny place to live.

 

The time they spent together was therapeutic for both of them. They spent many nights talking about the war, the final battle, and their memories of Tonks. Remus finally convinced Harry that Tonks’s death was not his fault, while he began to recover and move on with his life. Harry began to see Remus as a trusted friend and a valuable link to his parents, and he was glad to have him back in his life.

 

After taking their exams in early August, Harry and Ron found they had enough N.E.W.T.’s to be accepted into the Auror program, which they started in September. Harry was busy but still found time for Marie Therese, staying overnight at her house when Stephan wasn’t there – which was most of the time.

 

Marie Therese and Harry kept the affair very quiet. The only people who knew were Hermione, Ron and Remus, who agreed to keep their secret and ignored the fact that Harry was spending time with a married woman. His friends knew the nature of her marriage and were pleased that Marie Therese had been able to bring Harry back to life in a way that none of them could. They turned a blind eye and enjoyed seeing Harry so happy.

 

Marie Therese was happy as well. She had gained a beloved companion in the beautiful young man who brought her happiness every time he looked at her with adoration in his sparkling green eyes. She was amazed at his recovery and at his passion for her and for life. 

 

They were in a stable and happy relationship and she was content, but she also knew it couldn’t last. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Marie Therese sat at her vanity and looked at herself in the mirror, plucking a gray hair and running her fingers lightly over her face. She counted the wrinkles around her eyes and winced at how many had crept in over the last year. __Must have been the war__ , she thought.

 

She thought about how old she was starting to look. She was 35 – definitely heading into crone years, she thought. Although women in the wizarding world typically live to at least a hundred, their prime childbearing years were in their early twenties. Most women experienced a spike in their magical powers after age thirty, which made them formidable and successful in public life but robbed most of their ability to conceive after this age. Most witches strove to have their children before reaching age thirty and most had at least two by age twenty-five. 

 

Because of this unfortunate biological circumstance, wizards tended to favor witches in their twenties, and by the time most witches reached their thirties, they were considered over the hill. It generally didn’t matter to most because that was when they began to achieve greater magical power and shifted their focus to their careers or raising their families, instead of attracting members of the opposite sex. Older women could still have great sex, but they generally chose partners who valued their brains, personalities and magical abilities rather than their physical attractiveness. 

 

Marie Therese, however, was a bit vain. She wanted to stay as beautiful as she had been in her twenties. She didn’t have a career or family to focus on, so what was left? Her money? Her charity work? An occasional fling with a single – or sometimes married – wizard? She needed to know that she was still beautiful, and despite the fact that Harry adored her, she was feeling older by the day.

 

She stood and wandered to her wardrobe to select her clothes for the day, wondering why Harry – who had recently been voted “Most Eligible Bachelor” by __Witch Weekly__ (“The-hot-hot-boy-who-lived-and-defeated-Voldemort”), had surpassed Gilderoy Lockhart for the most consecutive weeks as the titleholder of “Most Charming Smile,” and could have his pick of any number of beautiful young women – would want to be with her? 

 

Sure, she’d taught him a lot and helped him find himself again, but he had countless young women sending him owls with interesting propositions (he would share the letters with her and they’d laugh over the outrageous things they’d suggest), and older women trying to set him up with their daughters – some as young as thirteen and some as old as forty-five. She felt very lucky to have Harry in her life and worried about the day when he would finally wake up and leave her.

_Heute oder morgen oder den übernächsten tag…_

Harry naturally continued to claim that he would stay with her – the damn sweet boy – but she knew that she couldn’t let him do it. She could give him neither marriage nor children, and she couldn’t deny him either one. And given his tendency toward noble causes and his lack of maturity and foresight, she knew that she would have to be the one to break it off. He would never see that for himself or take it upon himself to leave her, so she would do it. Yes, she would do it, she told herself. Soon.

She selected her robes for the day and began dressing as she thought about the type of woman Harry would like and who would make him a good wife. Someone kind, generous, smart, brave, adventurous, and fun-loving. From a good family – not necessarily a noble or wealthy one, but a good one. Given that he was an orphan raised by people who neglected and abused him, he deserved a good, large family with which to share his life. 

As she pulled on her fitted robes, it hit her. Ginny Weasley. She was unattached, pretty, had all of the other characteristics, and came from a large and wonderful family. Harry was good friends with her, best friends with her brother, and was already considered a member of her family. She’d also heard that they made an excellent team during the final battle and she’d pulled him out of several scrapes and kept him on task. She knew that they’d dated briefly a few years ago, but why had they broken off their relationship? Did he see her as only a sister now? 

She decided to have a word with Molly and see if she thought it would be a good match. 

_Oh God,_ she thought as she buttoned up the buttons on her robes. _I’m trying to set him up with someone else. Am I ready for that? Am I really ready to let him go?_

_No!_ She thought with a sharp pain in her heart. _I can’t let him go yet. But soon. I have to do it soon. Maybe after the holidays. I’ll think about it then._

She looked at herself in the mirror and traced one of the lines on her brow. _Yes, I’ll think about it then._

But first she had to start thinking about how to find the counterspell for the conubium spell to protect that poor girl, whoever she was, from a horrible fate. 


	9. Chapter 9

 

****The** **Knight of the Rose** **

****Act II: The Burrow, January 1, 1999** **

 

Author’s Note: In keeping with the theme of the opera this is based on, I broke my story into three acts. This is the start of Act II, where we’ll finally see some H/G action. Thanks for reading so far. Please review!

 

**CHAPTER 9**

 

New Year’s Day dawned bright, early, and cold. The sunlight bounced off the snow and icicles and into a window on the third floor of a cozy and lopsided house called The Burrow, right into the eyes of Hermione Granger. 

 

Hermione squinted into the sun and groaned. “Bloody hell,” she mumbled. __What_ _are jackhammers doing in The Burrow and who put these little fuzzy socks on my teeth? Ugh. Something must have died in my mouth last night and I don’t know how it got there._ _

 

She rolled over and found Ron Weasley asleep, fully clothed and lying on top of the covers on his side facing her with his arm draped over her hip. His mouth was open and he was softly snoring. __Why are we in bed together in his room at The Burrow?__

 

She saw an empty bottle of champagne on the nightstand. __Oh yeah, the Weasley’s New Year’s Eve party__ _,_ Hermione remembered. 

 

The Weasley family had hosted a huge New Year’s Eve party the previous evening. They’d hosted them in the past, but hadn’t held one in three years because of the war. This had been the first real opportunity to celebrate since the end of the war, what with Ron trying to recover from his injuries, the trio studying to take their N.E.W.T.S., Charlie going back to Romania, Ginny going back to Hogwarts for her seventh year, Ron and Harry starting Auror training, and Hermione starting her training at the Ministry in the Department of Mysteries. This was the first time that they had all been together, healthy and whole, with a holiday to celebrate.

 

The Order and the Aurors hadn’t had time to celebrate either. They spent the summer and fall dealing with the aftermath of the war, prosecution of the remaining Death Eaters, and reconstruction of the areas of the wizarding world that had been destroyed in the war. Now that things were finally getting back to normal, however, they could finally relax and celebrate their victory.

 

The Weasleys had invited over a hundred friends, Order members, and former schoolmates to the magically-enlarged Burrow and heated grounds. The twins had developed special fireworks and wheezes for the occasion, and Mrs. Weasley had outdone herself with the food, having cooked for weeks in preparation. The whole family had pitched in over the holidays to help with the cooking and cleaning.

 

Harry, Ron, Bill and Charlie had provided enough firewhiskey and butterbeer to inebriate half of England, and the gathered guests had celebrated quite raucously, letting loose for the first time in several years. They went through cases of butterbeer and firewhiskey, and at midnight they opened dozens of bottles of champagne to ring in the New Year. Bill and Percy (who had reunited with his family prior to the final battle) created dozens of special portkeys to enable everyone to get home safely, given the dangers of flooing or Apparating when drunk. All a drunk wizard or witch had to do was grab the portkey, tap it once with his or her wand, recite the intended address and he or she was whisked home.

 

The high point of the evening came at the stroke of midnight. As everyone kissed and toasted the New Year, Ron surprised Hermione by kneeling down on one knee, holding out a small velvet box, and proposing. Speechless, Hermione simply nodded and he slipped the ring on her finger as two fireworks shot into the sky with a bang, spelling out “She said yes!” and “We got Granger!” 

 

Ron stood up and took her in his arms and they kissed as the assembled guests broke out into cheers and applause and then laughter as the next firework exploded with a bang, spelling out “Ickle Ronniekins will be gettin’ ~~shagged~~ some tonight!” The newly engaged couple didn’t seem to notice as they kissed each other deeply, but Mrs. Weasley swatted both twins on the backs of their heads as she laughed at their joke. 

 

There was no shagging that night, however, given the amount of alcohol they drank in celebration. The rest of the night was a blur, as she and Ron danced together and shared the bottle of champagne that now sat on his nightstand. From what Hermione could remember, they had made their way up to Ron’s old room, which had been set up for him and Harry, and collapsed fully clothed on top of the covers on Ron’s bed. Their modesty was borne not of propriety or chastity but of exhaustion and inebriation, though Hermione was glad nothing had happened. She would have been mortified if Mrs. Weasley had caught them doing anything other than sleeping in Ron’s bed.

 

The smell of bacon wafted upstairs, announcing that the matriarch was up and moving about, Hermione reached over her fiancé to the dresser where she’d planted a bottle of hangover potion for easy reach the previous evening before the festivities began, took off the cap and drank half the bottle. Leaving the rest of the potion for Ron, still softly snoring, she grabbed her shoes and quietly crept out of the room, feeling better than she had when she first woke up.

 

She stopped in the loo to rinse her face, and as she noticed the ring on her hand in her reflection in the mirror, she thought about her fiancé sleeping down the hall. He looked so sweet and earnest as he proposed to her on one knee. She knew that proposing to her in front of his brothers and the rest of the partygoers has been a big risk, but they had been so happy together since he’d woken from his coma that he had to have been fairly confident that she’d say yes. __He’s come a long way since sixth year__ _,_ she thought to herself as she smiled at her reflection before pulling her mass of curly hair into a ponytail. That’s why she loved him so much. He may still lack confidence in some things, but he definitely knew how to sweep her off her feet. 

 

She rinsed her face and dried it with a towel before going downstairs, where she found Molly Weasley standing at the stove, pouring beaten eggs into a pan. “Good morning, Mrs. Weasley,” she greeted her future mother-in-law. 

 

“Good morning, dear,” she replied, hugging Hermione with one arm as she stirred the eggs with the other. “Please, Hermione, call me Molly now that we’re going to officially be family.” 

 

“Ok, uh, Molly,” replied Hermione, feeling a bit strange calling this woman she’d known as Mrs. Weasley for so many years by her given name. 

 

“Can I help you with breakfast?” she asked.

 

“No, dear, just sit down and let me serve my future daughter-in law!” she said brightly, gesturing for Hermione to sit at the table as she put down her wooden spoon and turned to the table. “Now, let me see the ring again.” 

 

Hermione stretched out her hand obligingly, smiling at her soon to be mother-in-law. Molly took her hand and admired the ring, which had once belonged to her mother. 

 

“I’ve always loved that ring,” she said as she turned back to the stove to stir the eggs, “but my mother told me to save it for one of my sons. I was so happy to give it to Ron when he told me he planned to propose. As much as I have come to love Fleur, it didn’t feel right giving it to her. I think maybe in the back of my mind I was saving it for you, dear.” Hermione blushed slightly as Molly turned back and looked fondly at the young woman she had thought of as part of her family long before Ron proposed. 

 

Hermione loved the ring too, a simple emerald-cut diamond flanked by two small rubies. She was also glad that Ron didn’t have to buy a new ring, given that he was just starting as an Auror-in-training, or Cavalier, as they were sometimes called, and didn’t have much money saved up. They’d probably have to wait a while before marrying, given that neither of them had much money at the moment. 

 

“How are you feeling? You did drink quite a bit, didn’t you?” Molly asked.

 

“Yes, more than I’d ever have before, unfortunately,” Hermione laughed as she remembered how she felt when she first woke up. 

 

“I guess we all did,” Molly said with a chuckle. “It just felt so good to let loose after so many years of fear and war. Arthur and I haven’t danced like that in years!” she said giddily as she swayed her hips from side to side in front of the stove, dancing to some unsung melody in her head.

 

Hermione nodded and smiled at the memory of Arthur spinning Molly around the dance floor. “I agree, it was a lot of fun. I wish I hadn’t drunk so much, but I’m feeling okay now. Thanks for brewing that hangover potion. I’m sure it will be a lifesaver for many in this house this morning!” 

 

Hermione enjoyed the fun-loving side of the Weasleys, knowing that her parents never cut loose like that. But then her parents hadn’t lived through the same kind of terror that this family had. They had attended the party at Molly’s invitation, knowing what Ron had planned. Hermione was happy to have them there to share in their celebration, but they had left shortly after midnight so they could get home at a reasonable hour. Bill had helped them with a portkey so they didn’t have to drive. 

 

“The potion was a lifesaver for me, that’s for sure.” said Ginny as she walked into the kitchen, sill in her pajamas and dressing gown. 

 

“Good morning, love,” said Molly, as she kissed her daughter on the cheek and set out cups on the table. “How did you sleep?” 

 

“Just fine, once The Burrow stopped spinning,” Ginny said as she slid into the seat next to Hermione. “I was ready to hex the twins for doing whatever they had done to cause the house to spin after I went to bed, but this morning I realized it was just the firewhiskey. Next time, remind me to cast a sobering charm before going to bed.” 

 

“I should have warned you, dear,” Molly said, carrying the teapot to the table and setting it in front of the girls. “The older boys have built up a tolerance over the years, so I forget that you are both new to alcohol. My fault, really, for letting you drink like that. I guess I’ve lost my protective edge now that Voldemort is finally gone. And you’re both of age, so I can’t stop you.” 

 

The girls met each other’s eyes and chuckled as they poured their cups of tea, knowing that a year ago Molly would never have let Ginny drink alcohol or allow anyone to let their guards down so much, knowing that Death Eaters could attack at any moment. It was a nice and very welcome change to see the formerly strict matriarch so relaxed about their behavior. It was a whole other side of Molly they’d never seen before. 

 

“In fact,” Molly continued. “I can even turn a blind eye to the sleeping arrangements,” she said, smiling at Hermione, who flushed bright red. 

 

“Um, I’m sorry, Mrs. Weasley, we just fell asleep…” 

 

“It’s ‘Molly’, dear,” Molly interrupted, “and I saw that the two of you were fully clothed when I checked on you before going to bed. But now that you’re engaged, it’s none of my business where you sleep,” she said, as she turned back to the stove.

 

Hermione grimaced inwardly and glared at Ginny as her friend snickered at her. She wasn’t sure if Molly knew about just how much sleeping together she and Ron had done these past few months. In September, Ron and Harry had moved into a flat together close to Auror headquarters, and Hermione spent quite a bit of time there. 

 

Ron and Harry had invited Hermione to move in with them, but she had declined, preferring to live with her parents for a little while longer. She hadn’t seen much of them while she was at Hogwarts and hardly at all during the year of the horcrux hunt and the preparations for the final battle. She was barely nineteen and although she felt like she’d lived an entire lifetime, she didn’t want to leave her parents just yet. She and Ginny had talked about getting a flat of their own when the younger girl graduated from Hogwarts, but she wasn’t sure if that would happen now that she was engaged. She thought that perhaps she and Ron might want to live together for a while before getting married, although she didn’t know how well that would go over with their parents.

 

“Who was sleeping where?” asked Arthur, as he came into the kitchen and kissed his wife. 

 

“Never mind, Arthur,” said Molly. “We’re just having a little girl talk, congratulating Hermione on her decision to become a Weasley.” 

 

“Yes, congratulations again, Hermione,” said Arthur as he kissed her on the cheek. “I’m so glad you’ll be an official part of the family, though you’ve been a part of it for many years.” 

 

“Thank you, Mr. Weasley,” said Hermione. 

 

With a look from Molly, Arthur said, “It’s Arthur, dear. Speaking of family, have you looked at the clock this morning?” he asked as he sat at the table across from the girls.

 

The women looked at the clock with hands for each member of the family, now all pointing to “home”, and saw that a new hand had appeared with Hermione’s face on it, also pointing to “home.” 

 

“Oh my! I guess I __am__ a member of the family now,” she said with a huge grin. “My first Weasley sweater last week, and now this!” Hermione said as Ginny hugged her, glad to finally have a sister (one who wasn’t Fleur). 

 

As Arthur poured himself a cup of tea, Molly served up the first round of breakfast and they ate slowly, still feeling the lingering effects of their celebrations the night before. 

 

“What time did Harry leave last night?” asked Hermione, who hadn’t noticed much after midnight other than Ron and the ring he’d put on her finger. 

 

“Shortly after midnight,” said Ginny between mouthfuls. “He said he had to get some rest because he had some kind of special Auror duty today.” 

 

“Auror duty? Ron didn’t mention anything about that,” said Hermione. 

 

“I think it’s just Harry,” answered Ginny taking a second helping of bacon. “Some kind of special Ministry function they want him to attend. Probably a boy-who-kicked-Voldemort’s-arse kind of thing. He mentioned having to wear his Cavalier dress robes.” 

 

“I ironed his robes for him yesterday,” said Molly as she sat down with her own plate of food. “That boy may be the hero of the wizarding world, but he still needs a mother,” she said fondly, picking up a scone and buttering it. 

 

Hermione grinned into her tea, knowing how much Molly loved mothering Harry, whom she had considered her seventh son ever since he set foot in The Burrow six and a half years ago. 

 

“Harry took a portkey back to the flat last night,” said Ginny. Molly had set up the camp bed in Ron’s room for the two boys and an extra bed in Ginny’s room for Hermione.

 

Ginny assumed that Harry had decided to give Ron and Hermione some time alone on their big night, but Hermione knew that Harry really went back to the flat because he wanted to make a New Year’s eve floo call to Marie Therese and knew that he couldn’t do it from the Weasley’s house. Marie Therese had attended a New Year’s function at the muggle Egyptian embassy in London but would have been home in time for Harry’s call. 

 

Hermione, Ron, and Remus were the only people who knew about Harry’s relationship with Marie Therese. Hermione was very fond of the older witch and was grateful for how she’d brought Harry back to life when nobody else could. He had been so angry, guilty and angst-ridden prior to the final battle and was even worse when Ron was in his coma. 

 

Somehow, through Marie Therese’s kindness, her comfort and, Hermione supposed, the sex, she’d brought Harry out of his shell and helped him recover. Harry was smitten, that was for sure. In the mornings after Hermione stayed with Ron and Harry stayed at Marie Therese’s house, he always returned to the flat with a huge smile on his face, so Hermione knew that much of it had to be the sex. 

 

Hermione also knew that the relationship wouldn’t last. The older woman was married, after all, and divorce was very rare in the wizarding world, especially among wealthy purebloods. Marie Therese had confided to the younger witch about her past affairs, and although she told Hermione how much she cared for Harry and truly loved him, she knew that it would have to end someday. Hermione also knew that Harry would never break off the relationship, given that he was happy and couldn’t see any reason to do so. Thus, Therese would have to be the one to end it. Hermione just wondered when it would happen – sooner or later? 

 

As the Weasleys continued chatting, Hermione thought about the other secret that she’d kept for a year and a half. She’d intended to reveal it after the final battle, but had been delayed by Ron’s hospitalization and then Harry’s relationship with Marie Therese. She felt guilty for not telling Harry and Ginny sooner, but Harry seemed so happy with Marie Therese and Ginny seemed content at school. Hermione had been waiting for Marie Therese and Harry to break off their relationship before telling Harry and Ginny their secret and restoring the memories that Hermione had hidden from them for so long.

 


	10. Chapter 10

  
Author's notes:

Author’s note: Again, many thanks to my beta, Mench, for her patience and her keen eye!

 

* * *

**Chapter 10**

Hermione knew that she had to tell Harry and Ginny that they had once been, and were probably still, deeply in love. They just didn’t remember it.

It began in Harry’s sixth year. Hermione knew that Harry had been developing feelings for Ginny for some time. He never said a word, but Hermione could see how he watched Ginny as she studied and how he furrowed his brow when she walked hand-in-hand through the halls with Dean. She saw how he watched Ginny during their Quidditch matches when he was supposed to be looking for the Snitch. And she was relieved when Ginny and Harry began to date after their dramatic kiss in the common room following the final Quidditch match that spring.

She watched them sitting curled together in squashy chairs in the common room, holding hands under the table as they ate breakfast, and kissing under the beech tree by the lake when they thought no one was watching. They both seemed very happy together and she was thrilled for them, even while she was confused about her own situation with Ron.

Then came Dumbledore’s death and Harry’s decision to break up with Ginny to protect her as they went to hunt for the horcruxes. Hermione knew Harry well enough to see it coming and could tell from his quiet conversation with Ginny after the funeral that he was breaking things off. She talked to Ginny on the train on the way back to London and got the whole story from her. Ginny had accepted Harry’s decision, though she was unhappy with it.

Hermione was conflicted. She knew that Ginny couldn’t come with them on the horcrux hunt and that Harry needed to have as few distractions as possible, but she also knew that if love was the power that Voldemort knew not, then didn’t he need as much love as possible in his life?

On the train ride back to London, Harry told Ron and Hermione about everything he’d learned about the horcruxes that year from Dumbledore. They agreed on a plan for the next month while Harry completed his final stay with the Dursleys. Hermione was to immediately owl Professor McGonagall to obtain a number of books from the Hogwarts library and send them to Ron and Harry for them all to read. They then planned to meet up twice a week at the Dursley’s house to discuss their findings and develop their plan for finding the remaining horcruxes. By the time they reached King’s Cross Station they had drawn up a schedule and agreed to meet up in five days. Hermione watched as Harry and Ginny gave each other a quick stiff hug before he greeted his sullen aunt, uncle, and cousin and walked out of the station.

The summer proceeded according to their plan and the trio found that they made significant progress, as Harry and Ron for the first time put concerted effort into their work. And on his seventeenth birthday Harry left his relatives’ house for good and went to The Burrow to help prepare for Bill and Fleur’s wedding, which was to take place in early August, a week after his arrival.

Ginny and Harry acted politely toward each other, but Hermione could sense the strain between them. They seemed to avoid spending any time alone together as the four of them cleaned the house, polished silver, wiped glasses, set up chairs, tossed gnomes, and decorated the garden. She would occasionally see Harry staring at Ginny as she worked, or Ginny stealing glances at Harry as he played chess with Ron, but the two avoided eye contact as much as possible.

Three days before the wedding, Ron and Harry went to the Ministry with Mr. Weasley to take their Apparition tests, and Hermione was secretly relieved they returned to The Burrow with eyebrows intact and triumphant smiles on their faces.

On the day of the wedding, they all wore their finest. Hermione wore new pale green dress robes, while Ron wore the dress robes the twins had given him after their fourth year, enlarged to fit his four inch growth spurt and broader chest. Harry wore a new set of dark green robes that Molly had convinced him to buy for the wedding since he’d outgrown the ones he’d worn at the fourth year Yule Ball.

Ginny, on the other hand, wore bridesmaid’s dress robes chosen by Fleur, which she and Hermione agreed weren’t as horrid as she had feared they would be. Sitting next to Harry during the ceremony, Hermione heard him gasp as Ginny came down the aisle on Charlie’s arm, dressed in pale gold chiffon robes and her hair styled in a sleek updo. By the deer-in-the-headlights expression on his face, Hermione knew then that Harry was as much in love with Ginny as he’d ever been, and she feared that he would never be able to block his feelings for her from Voldemort.

During the wedding reception Hermione saw Harry and Ginny dancing together, holding each other close. She wasn’t sure if they were reuniting or saying good-bye, though Ginny told her later in her room, in a voice choked with tears, that it was goodbye-for-now. She agreed to wait for him and he said he would come back to her. Hermione could only pray that they would all make it back home to fulfill their promises – including the ones that she and Ron had finally made to each other that night when they shared their first kiss behind a giant old oak tree.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Late that night, she and Ginny woke to the muffled sounds of yelling from Ron’s room. They grabbed their wands and dashed up the flight of stairs to find Harry sitting on the edge of his bed with his hand pressed to his forehead, Ron hovering next to him.

“It’s just Voldemort poking around in my head again,” Harry said as he sat back on the bed. Ginny sat next to him and began to stroke his hair.

Hermione knew that Harry had been practicing Occlumency ever since Dumbledore’s death. He’d had started taking it more seriously when he realized that Voldemort could find out about his feelings for Ginny and use her to lure Harry to him. He worried that it would put him in a position where he’d have to choose between saving Ginny and fulfilling the prophesy by killing Voldemort. He couldn’t let that happen, he couldn’t make that choice, so he contacted Remus while he was at the Dursley’s and they began to work together on finally learning to close his mind. He’d been making progress, but was far from ready to block his mind completely.

Harry leaned into Ginny’s touch as she stroked his hair. “It hurts like hell because I was able to push back harder this time. I don’t think he got very far, but if he keeps it up he’ll know everything about our search for the horcruxes and ….” he stopped, looking at Ginny.

“We’ll have to find away for you to practice Occlumency when we’re out on the hunt,” said Hermione.

“But I don’t know if I can ever totally block him out, especially when I’m sleeping,” Harry replied dejectedly.

Hermione agreed, knowing that even if they could keep some facts shielded in Harry’s mind, they couldn’t keep all facts or most emotions blocked without advanced training, which they simply didn’t have time for. Voldemort would easily find out about his feelings for Ginny and then she would be a target, but if there was a way to block Harry’s memories of her, they could possibly keep them safe until after it was all over. She had been thinking about this problem since the day of Dumbledore’s funeral and had done some preliminary research while she was at home, sending owls of inquiry and looking through some books that McGonagall had sent to her. She only had a few remaining pieces of the puzzle to find before offering her solution.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny went back to bed, but Hermione quietly crept downstairs to the Weasleys’ living room to peruse their shelves for books to help her with the final details of her plan. She found a few books and spent the rest of the night reading. They were leaving for Godric’s Hollow the next day and she hoped to solve the problem before they left.

Early the next morning, Molly found Hermione sleeping on the couch with a book lying on her chest. She gently woke the young witch, and she got up and went upstairs to Ron’s room to tell the boys about her idea. Hermione found them awake and packing, so she sat them down and explained her plan.

Hermione had found a reversible memory spell that would allow Harry and Ginny to forget their memories of their feelings for each other. It was similar to putting memories into a pensieve, but instead of pulling them out one-by-one, this spell would cast a wide net on all memories of a particular event or set of events and remove them from their minds.

The spell had been developed by a wizard who had mourned the death of his beloved wife so deeply that he spent years developing a spell to remove her from his memory. The spell turned out to be tragic for him because he died feeling that he’d never been loved. Hermione didn’t believe that this would be a risk for Harry, however, because he would be surrounded by people who loved him, and it was also to be only temporary.

Since everyone at Hogwarts already knew that Ginny and Harry had dated, they couldn’t pretend they’d never been together. But since only the Weasleys, Hermione, Harry, Tonks, and Remus knew the depth of their feelings, Hermione could cast a similar spell on the rest of the family and their close friends. That way, if they were ever captured or their memories probed, they wouldn’t be able to reveal Harry and Ginny’s secret. Everyone would remember that Harry and Ginny had dated for a few weeks (and snogged like mad the entire time) but it ended amicably with them agreeing to be friends, like brother and sister.

They would also need to cast a _Fidelius charm_ , making Hermione the secret-keeper. In this role, she would keep the secret, even from Ron, until after Voldemort’s death. Only then would she break the spell, restoring everyone’s memories. The _Fidelius_ charm would prevent her from telling the secret, even under Veritaserum or torture. If she were to die, the spell would be broken only after Voldemort’s death, so she planned to write two copies of a letter to be sent to Harry and Ginny explaining what was done and giving the counterspells. Ron was hurt that he wasn’t chosen as secret keeper, but he reluctantly agreed after Hermione explained that it was necessary that all members of the family be kept from the secret to ensure their safety.

Harry, on the other hand, needed a bit more convincing. While he liked the idea of using the memory charm to keep Ginny safe, he felt that he needed his memories of her to keep him going.

Hermione agreed to keep the good memories of their times together and the feeling that Ginny still loved him – though only as a brother. This wouldn’t necessarily prevent Voldemort using any one of the Weasleys who loved him – Arthur, Molly, Ron, or Ginny – but it would prevent the Dark Lord from singling her out for being the one he cared the most about. After some discussion Harry finally agreed to go through with Hermione’s plan.

The trio went downstairs to Ginny’s room to explain their idea. She reluctantly agreed and also suggested that they put a spell on her diary and her letters from Harry so that they would temporarily reflect the new reality.

They had agreed to cast the spell just before leaving for Godric’s Hollow, to avoid too much interaction after it was done and to maximize the little remaining time they had together. After breakfast, Hermione and Ron went to Ginny’s room to help Hermione finish packing her bag and give Harry and Ginny a few minutes alone before performing the spell.

Hermione took the opportunity to write letters to Harry and Ginny that would be sent to them in the event of her death. Once finished, she cast a spell on the letters that sent them to a secure location in Gringotts, to be kept until they were needed. She hoped they never would be.

“Are we doing the right thing?” she asked Ron. “What if something goes wrong? What if we can’t get their memories back?”

Ron held her hand and said reassuringly, “Nothing will go wrong, love. You are the smartest witch I know. You’ve done all of your research. You’ll do just fine.” He kissed her softly and she nodded, putting the last of her things in her bag.

“Come on, it’s time,” he said, as he picked up her bag, took her hand and started toward the door.

They walked slowly up to Ron’s room, where they found Harry and Ginny sitting side by side on the bed, holding hands and talking softly.

They both looked up at Hermione and she nodded back at them, indicating that it was time to perform the spell. Hermione pulled Ron to one side to give Harry and Ginny some privacy as they said their goodbyes.

They waited a minute and then turned back to find the couple standing close, with their hands clasped, their foreheads pressed together, and their eyes closed. Harry opened his eyes, turned to look at Hermione and nodded.

Hermione sighed and began preparations to cast the spell. It was a complex process, involving performing the memory charm on both Harry and Ginny, a separate charm on The Burrow to cover each member of the Weasley family, even if they weren’t currently in the house, and a charm on a photo of Remus and Tonks that she’d found in a Weasley photo album. Finally, Hermione cast the _Fidelius_ charm on herself, making her the secret-keeper.

Once the spells and charms were cast, Hermione spent a few tense moments watching Harry, Ron, and Ginny as their eyes glazed over and their expressions became slack. After a minute she breathed a sigh of relief as Harry looked at Ginny, blinked once and said, “Well, Gin, it’s been great seeing you again, but we really should be going.”

He turned to look at Ron and Hermione. “You guys ready?” With that he gave Ginny a brotherly hug and peck on the cheek, nodded to Ron and Hermione, picked up his bag and left the room.

Hermione looked at Ginny and saw a brief flicker of confusion on the girl’s face, which cleared as she said, “We’d better get you two downstairs to say goodbye to Mum and Dad. It’s not going to be a pretty scene!” She turned and followed Harry down the stairs.

Hermione looked at Ron, who shrugged his shoulders, grabbed his and Hermione’s bags and followed in Ginny’s wake. Hermione watched them leave, remembering Harry and Ginny’s final moments together before she’d cast the spell and the expressions on their faces as they savored their remaining memories.

“Oh God, I hope we’re doing the right thing,” she said, as a tear slid down her cheek.

She brushed it away and sighed, suddenly feeling a bit lonely and weighed down by the knowledge that she held Harry and Ginny’s future in her hands. She then followed her friends downstairs to make her goodbyes to the Weasleys and Apparate with Ron and Harry to Godric’s Hollow.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

As Molly, Arthur, Ginny and Hermione finished eating their New Year’s breakfast, an official-looking owl appeared at the kitchen window. Ginny moved to the window, opened it up and let the owl in. She untied a piece of parchment with a small package that was tied to the bird’s leg. She gave the owl piece of bacon and it hopped back into the windowsill and flew away.

Ginny walked back to the table and saw that the package and note were addressed to her. She carefully opened the letter, which was written on Ministry letterhead and appeared to have only one line:

_Dear Miss Weasley,_

__

_The Ministry of Magic, Office of Binding Spells and Contracts, requests that you open the enclosed box upon receipt._

Ginny looked at the attached parcel, opened up the brown wrapping and found a small, square black lacquer box adorned with runes on its sides and a single silver rose on the lid. Hermione walked around to Ginny’s side, read the letter and looked at the box.

“We’d better check this over before opening it,” said Hermione, glancing at Arthur and Molly. Arthur nodded at her and she cast a couple of detection spells on the box. After finding nothing wrong, Ginny carefully opened the lid.

A pink mist rose from the box, spread across the room and then dispersed. Hermione looked at Ginny, Arthur, and Molly and saw dazed expressions on their faces. She looked into the box and saw that it was empty. Confused, she looked at the letter again and saw that more text had appeared.

_The Ministry of Magic announces the successful fulfillment of the Conubium spell, originally cast on September 19, 1973, by Malfalda Ochs with the consent of Arthur Weasley. We are pleased to announce that you, Ginevra Molly Weasley, firstborn daughter of Arthur and Molly Weasley, are pledged to marry Sebastian Leopold Ochs by midnight on your eighteenth birthday. Failure to do so will result in your death at precisely 12:01am the following day._

__

_Please report with your parents to the Ministry of Magic, Conference Room A, promptly at two o’clock in the afternoon today, January 1, 1999 for the Betrothing Ceremony._

__

_Sincerely,_

_Ignatius Gudgeon, Deputy Minister of Binding Spells and Contracts_

As Hermione looked at the letter in shock, she failed to notice the huge smiles on the faces of Ginny and her parents. Molly jumped up from the table, rushed over to her daughter and wrapped her in a big hug. Hermione, still clutching the letter in disbelief, was pushed to one side in the flurry of Molly’s excitement.

“Oh, my dear girl, you are to be married!” Molly cried. “We are so happy and proud! Imagine, marrying such a noble man as Sebastian Leopold Ochs. And such a wonderful family too!”

Ginny looked blissful as she hugged her mother and grinned at her father. “Father, I’m to be married! You can give me away. Oh, I will be so happy!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands together and bouncing up and down on her toes.

Arthur seemed to be rendered mute. He just nodded excitedly, his bright eyes taking everything in as he rushed over to his daughter and gave her a hug.

Hermione gaped at them, completely flabbergasted by their response to the letter. _Why are they acting this way? They receive a letter that claims that Ginny has to marry a total stranger, and if she doesn’t she will die. And they’re happy about it?_

She knew immediately that there must have been some kind of spell that was triggered when the box was opened. How else could she explain such bizarre behavior? Why else would they be so excited that she was to marry a stranger, someone they knew to be a Death Eater supporter?

But why wasn’t it affecting her too? _Perhaps it only affects family members,_ she thought. _That means that Ron and his brothers would be affected as well!_

As if on cue, six pairs of feet came pounding down the stairs, hangovers forgotten, as the six Weasley brothers burst into the kitchen, grabbing Ginny and their parents into hugs and offering their congratulations.

“Imagine, ickle Ginny marrying such a wealthy and noble man!” cried George, as Fred hugged their mother. Ron, Charlie, and Bill alternately hugged Ginny and their parents, expressing their equal delight in the match. Percy stood off to the side, a pompous and proud look on his face.

“Two engagements in just two days.” Molly cried. “Oh, will my joy never end?” she exclaimed as she hugged her sons in turn and dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.

“We have to start planning the wedding right away!” she said to Ginny, taking her by the arm and pulling her away from Ron, who’d been crushing her in a huge bear hug. “You can marry in June after you graduate. We should have the ceremony and reception on the grounds of Ochs’s Manor, as I’m sure it’s very grand! We’ll have to go dress shopping soon, but you will want to wear your grandmother’s veil, since it’s a family tradition....”

As Molly continued her litany of joy, Hermione backed slowly out of the room, not wanting to disrupt the disturbing tableau of family happiness. Witnessing the horrifying spectacle of Fred and George gushing over a wealthy suitor, she felt like she was in a bad Jane Austin parody. She shivered at the implications and didn’t want to wait around to see what Ron had to say. She could barely make out his voice over the din saying something about his sister giving Ochs “a whole bunch of babies”.

Hermione walked over to the couch in the lounge and sat down, looking at the box and trying to figure out what kind of spell they were under. _I can tell from the runes on the box that this is old magic, so the Weasleys won’t have the books I need. I need to get to the Ministry to do some research in the library._

She knew she had to find some kind of answer before the ceremony at two o’clock. She pocketed the box and ran upstairs to grab the rest of her things and leave a note for Ron. She wanted to stop by his flat to borrow Harry’s Invisibility Cloak in case she needed to attend the ceremony undetected. Then she would head to the Ministry library to see what she could find. Fortunately, as an Unspeakable trainee, she had access to the library on weekends and holidays and could do her research undisturbed.

She wouldn’t allow Ginny to marry Ochs. Hermione had never met the man, but knew that he was a Death Eater supporter who’d been let off on technicalities. Not to mention that he was over twice her age. And, of course, she couldn’t let Ginny marry someone else when somewhere, deep in her memories, she still loved Harry and he loved her. Hermione had to figure out what spell Ginny and her family were under and then she had to tell Harry and Ginny about their secret.

She went back to the lounge and before she could floo away, she heard Fred saying, “Our little Ginny is going to be such a beautiful bride!”


	12. Chapter 12

****Author’s note:** ** The spells that Hermione finds in this chapter are more fully described in chapter 3. I didn’t want to repeat them all when discussing Hermione’s research discoveries.

 

****CHAPTER 12** **

 

Hermione left the library at 1:30, hoping to get inside the conference room before the Weasleys got there, so she could be in place under the Invisibility Cloak to observe the Betrothing Ceremony. 

 

She had made some progress in the library, finding several key pieces of the puzzle. First, she’d found what was called the __conubium__ spell in a book of spells dating back to the 1400’s. The spell was designed to bind wizarding families together to help maintain the magical community by ensuring intermarriage and preventing reproduction with Muggles and Muggleborns.

 

She was horrified to learn that wealthy pureblood families began in the late 1800s to use the spell as a way to broker their daughters for financial mergers with other pureblood families. They were practically sold into marriages with men twice their age. As the men grew older and less desirable to the young girls, they chose to keep the identity of the groom a secret until after the engagement had been cemented in the Betrothing Ceremony. 

 

That only solved half of the mystery, however. The book didn’t explain anything about why the Weasleys were acting so strangely. She found that answer in a book from the year 1928, which documented how the young girls had taken matters into their own hands and had started using the __castrato__ spell, and how the patriarchs responded by adding the __familias__ spell, which rendered the girl and her family complicit and happy with the marriage until they reached the altar. 

 

Hermione also learned more about the Betrothing Ceremony. During the Medieval Period, when the spell was first used, chivalric custom dictated that, upon coming of age, the young man would present a silver rose to his intended, which would cement the engagement through a magical spell. The girl would keep the rose as a token of his pledge and bring it to the marriage ceremony, where it would be transformed into a wand that was used to form the union. 

 

After they began hiding the identity of the groom until after the Betrothing Ceremony in the late nineteenth century, they used Cavaliers, or Aurors-In-Training, to present the rose to the young girls. They found that, in the days before the __castrato__ and __familias__ spells, dashing young men in dress uniform tended to soften the girls and ease their fears until the rose was presented. It also gave the process a stamp of Ministry approval. These young men then became known as Knights of the Rose. The title was an honor for young Aurors and helped advance their careers, but now that new __conubium__ spells were illegal and the ceremony was so seldom done, the title had very little meaning and had generally been forgotten.

 

Hermione hadn’t had time to research the counterspell, but didn’t think that would matter for the moment as they had until Ginny’s eighteenth birthday in August to find a solution. But she intended to go back to the library after the ceremony to continue her search because she wanted to break the spell before Ginny and her family made complete fools of themselves by planning a ridiculous wedding and bragging about her pending marriage to Sebastian Ochs.

 

She left the Ministry library and took the elevator to the floor where Conference Room A was located. As she rounded the corner near the conference room, she was surprised to see Harry, wearing his dress robes, pacing the floor and muttering something to himself. 

 

__Of course! Harry is the rose bearer. He’s the Knight of the Rose!_ _ In the excitement at The Burrow she’d forgotten about Harry’s special assignment for the day. She was certain that Harry didn’t know who the recipient was because he would have otherwise refused the assignment. 

 

She decided to not speak to Harry, so she slipped under his Invisibility Cloak and snuck past him. He was too distracted by trying to memorize his lines for the ceremony to notice the whisper of fabric as she passed. She had to stop herself from chuckling out loud when she heard him muttering to himself, “Knight of the Rose? Why couldn’t it be something more masculine, like Knight of the Sword, or Knight of the Dragon?”

 

Hermione slipped into the conference room and crouched into a corner under the cloak to wait for the Weasleys to arrive. Molly, Arthur and Ginny arrived a few minutes before two o’clock, dressed in their finest. Since they didn’t have time to shop for new robes, Ginny wore her bridesmaid’s regalia from Bill and Fleur’s wedding. She wore her hair long, in waves around her shoulders. Molly stood nervously and spoke encouraging words to her daughter, while Arthur beamed proudly at Ginny as he stood in his dress robes with his wife. Hermione recalled having read that the __familias__ spell rendered the girls’ fathers mute to keep them out of the way to avoid complications as mother and daughter planned the wedding. 

 

“Now stand up straight, dear,” Molly fussed as she pinched both of Ginny’s cheeks. 

 

“Mum! What are you doing?” Ginny squealed, pulling away from her mother.

 

“Just giving you a bit of color, dear. A little flush makes a girl more attractive,” said Molly, seeming to forget that there were spells that did the same thing.

 

__Yes, I’m in a bad Jane Austin parody__ _,_ thought Hermione as she observed from her corner. __I’d laugh if the situation weren’t so dire._ _

 

The Ministry official arrived and greeted the Weasleys. “Ah good, you’re here. Good to see you Arthur, Molly. This is quite a surprise. These ceremonies are so few and far between these days!” 

 

At age ninety-eight, Ignatius Gudgeon had overseen many ceremonies in his day, and had been the only one to do so since the early 1950’s. After the unfortunate death that caused the Ministry to abolish the __conubium__ spell, he had grown leery of performing the ceremonies. Given that there hadn’t been one in over a decade, he was surprised to receive the summons three days prior and even more surprised to learn who the family was. He couldn’t imagine that Arthur Weasley would have entered into such an agreement. But, being a practical and unsentimental man, he knew that the spell had to be carried out to avoid another messy and difficult situation. 

 

“The ceremony is about to begin. The Cavalier is just outside,” he said, gently guiding the family into place as they looked toward the doors in anticipation. 

 

At precisely two o’clock in the afternoon, the doors opened and a pink mist arose in the room, obscuring the view of the door. A dark-haired man in blue dress robes crossed the threshold, holding a silver rose in front of him. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Harry couldn’t see the family through the mist. He knew he was here to present the silver rose he was carrying to a young girl who was to be engaged to a wealthy Ministry donor. He had no idea why a Cavalier was required to give her the rose, but he was only a trainee and he knew that there was no real reason to object to such a simple assignment. Go in, hand her the rose, say a few words and leave. No problem.

 

He strode forward toward the mass of people and stood in front of what looked like a young girl with red hair and gold dress robes. He held the rose aloft in her direction, cleared his throat and said to the room:

 

“I present to you, fair maiden, the Silver Rose of The Betrothed. Please accept this rose on behalf of your fiancé and may you live a long and prosperous life together. Long live the wizarding world!”

 

The mist began to clear as Harry finished his short speech and his jaw dropped. It was Ginny. The girl he was handing the rose to was Ginny. He blinked and looked over her shoulder to see Molly and Arthur beaming at them. 

 

“Ginny!” he said, looking at the girl standing in front of him, his eyes blinking rapidly through the fading mist. 

 

Nobody in the room noticed a series of incantations spoken softly from the corner. 

 

As Ginny took the rose into her hands, she and Harry felt a flush of warmth as memories began flashing through both of their minds. 

 

__The_ _two of them hugging each other on the Quidditch field after Harry captured the Snitch. Stealing glances at each other across the Gryffindor common room as they studied, their classmates swirling unnoticed around them. Ginny running to Harry and kissing him as he stepped through the threshold to the common room after they’d won the Quidditch cup. Taking a long walk by the lake, pausing to kiss and stare into each other’s eyes as the sun set behind them. Long sunny afternoons lying beneath a beech tree by the lake, Ginny lying across Harry’s chest, kissing for what seemed like hours, hands roaming cautiously beneath clothing. Holding hands beneath the table in the Great Hall as they ate breakfast together. Ginny crying into his shoulder as she shared her experiences in the Chamber of Secrets. Harry sharing memories of his tortured childhood as Ginny ran her fingers soothingly through his hair. Holding each other after Dumbledore’s death. Harry breaking up with her after the funeral. Stealing glances at each other during Bill and Fleur’s wedding ceremony. Dancing at the reception..._ _

__

__“Ginny, you know that I don’t want to leave you, but I have to,” he said as they danced slowly, looking into each other’s eyes. “I know you are brave enough and smart enough to come with us, but you’re not of age and your parents would never let you….”_ _

__

__She started to object, but he put a finger to her lips._ _

__

__“You need to be here where you can be safe. You can train with the others to help us after we’ve done what we have to do. But I need you here, Ginny. I can’t be distracted out there, and I can’t let Voldemort know how much I love you. I do love you, with every single part of my heart. I hate to leave you, I really do. I’m not doing this just to protect you. I’m doing it to protect me, to protect us. Will you wait for me?”_ _

__

__She looked into his eyes for a long time and finally nodded. She knew he was right. She hated to admit it, but he was. She didn’t know all of the spells they knew, she couldn’t even Apparate. She’d be a liability. So decided to wait for him. She tilted her head up and kissed him softly on the lips before she buried her face in his robes and he stroked her back as they slowly danced in a small circle on the dance floor…_ _

__

__The morning after the wedding, they both decided that the best way to preserve their feelings was to go along with Hermione’s plan, and they whispered their goodbyes as Ron and Hermione stood behind them before Hermione cast the final spell, sealing their memories away._ _

 

Harry looked in to Ginny’s eyes and saw dawning comprehension. “Oh Gin,” he said softly, stepping toward her. “You remember too.”

 

She nodded, looking a bit dazed.

 

“I can’t believe I actually forgot,” he continued. “My feelings for you, my love for you.” 

 

“I can’t believe it either, Harry.” They both stood still, shocked, as they gazed into each other’s eyes, searching for other missing memories. They started to move toward each other, reaching out to take the other’s hand, when they heard a cough from behind Ginny. They both jumped and turned to see the Ministry official looking at them. 

 

“Shall we move on with the ceremony?” he said.

 

“Oh God,” said Ginny, startled back the present, as she turned back to Harry. “I’m to be married. And to Sebastian Ochs, a former Death Eater!” 

 


	13. Chapter 13

_CHAPTER 13_

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief in the corner as she heard the hushed words from Ginny and Harry. Knowing that the betrothing spell could seriously interfere with the memory spell, she acted quickly at the last minute and cast the memory restoration spell on Harry and Ginny.

The spell seemed to work, and Hermione was surprised to see that her actions had also counteracted the _familias_ spell as well. Ginny seemed to be back to normal. Unfortunately, it looked as though Molly and Arthur, who were still beaming at her with glazed expressions, were still under its influence.

“What are we going to do?” Ginny whispered to Harry, panic on her face. Hermione wished she could help but she didn’t want to blow her cover just yet.

Just then the doors flew open and Sebastian Ochs pompously strode into the room.

“Ah, here’s the groom,” said Deputy Minister Gudgeon, stepping forward to greet Ochs.

“My new bride and her family. How overjoyed you must be with your good fortune!” said Ochs as he strode over to Harry, Ginny, and her parents.

“Arthur, Molly, may I present Mr. Sebastian Ochs,” said Gudgeon. “Mr. Ochs, this is Arthur and Molly Weasley and their daughter Ginevra, your fiancé.”

Ochs stepped forward to greet Arthur and Molly, who gushed their greetings and beamed at him, before turning to look at his fiancé, not noticing the horrified expression on her face.

“Well now, is this my lovely bride?” he asked, looking Ginny up and down. “Mother certainly chose well! You certainly are a handful, aren’t you?” he said with a leer as he stopped his gaze at her breasts.

He went to put his arm around Ginny’s waist in an overly familiar way, but she spun away from him, avoiding his touch.

“What’s the matter, love? Come give your future husband a kiss! We have to start practicing, my dear!” he said as he reached out his hand again. Ginny glared at him and refused to take his hand.

Hermione noticed that Harry had turned red and was now gripping his wand in one hand while clenching and unclenching the other. _Don’t do anything rash, Harry,_ she implored silently. She’d read about the Hornby incident and knew that if Ochs were to be killed by a rash act by Harry, it would mean sudden death for Ginny.

Failing to flirt his way into an embrace with his fiancé, Ochs decided to take another approach, turning to Molly.

“So, are we all set for a grand wedding?” he asked the mother of the bride.

“Oh yes, we are so thrilled. We want to have a huge wedding, invite everyone who’s anyone. Pull out all the stops,” she gushed. “Won’t she make a lovely bride?” asked the proud mother, looking over at Ginny, not noticing the angry look on her daughter’s face and the death glare she was sending at Ochs.

“Yes, lovely,” he said, looking directly at Ginny’s breasts in her low-cut robes. She defensively crossed her arms over her chest, looking decidedly uncomfortable. Hermione could see that Molly and Arthur were oblivious to their future son-in-law’s lecherous behavior.

Harry, on the other hand, noticed everything and looked ready to hex the older man as he stepped in front of Ginny to shield her from Ochs’s gaze. Fortunately, Harry’s Auror training had made him less impetuous and he seemed to be acting in a more rational manner than usual. However, Hermione could tell that Ochs’s behavior was about to push him over the edge, so she held her wand in case she needed to cast a silent _expelliarmus_. She was glad that Ginny’s wand was presumably tucked into her dress, so she couldn’t easily cast a rash Bat Bogey hex on her unsuspecting fiancé.

Ochs noticed the red-faced young man standing in front of him and smiled. “Ah, Harry my boy. So glad you could help out today. Ginevra is a lucky girl to have the famous Harry Potter present her the Silver Rose.” He leaned forward with a conspiratorial wink. “You’ll have to tell me what she was like in school. I imagine she was quite the firecracker, eh?” He elbowed Harry in the ribs.

Harry glared at the older man, silently daring him to continue.

“Yes, I’m sure she’s looking forward to the wedding night,” continued Ochs, taking Harry’s arm and pulling him to one side, oblivious to the expression on the younger man’s face.

“Most girls married under the _conubium_ spell can’t wait to consummate the marriage. I’m assuming that she’ll be able to give me an heir within the year. Eventually a whole litter, I’d imagine, given the size her family and those nice childbearing hips!” he said, gazing down at Ginny’s lower body as she turned away from him.

Hermione groaned inwardly as she saw from the look in Harry’s eyes that this little conversation had finally pushed him over the edge. He raised his wand suddenly and held it at Ochs’s throat.

“Say one more word about her and I swear I will kill you,” he said quietly and treacherously. “I’ve done it before,”

Hermione silently cursed herself for not moving closer to Harry sooner. She didn’t have a good enough angle to stop him from hexing Ochs without revealing her position.

“What is this? Why are you threatening me, Harry?” asked a bewildered Ochs, stepping away from the younger wizard and looking at Gudgeon, who appeared alarmed at the turn of events. He’d never seen a Cavalier threaten a groom before and didn’t want a repeat of the Hornby incident.

“You are hardly behaving like the gentleman you claim to be,” said Harry through gritted teeth, obviously trying to control his temper.

“Harry, Harry,” he said, trying to placate the young man. “I’m just having a little bit of fun, trying to lighten up a stuffy and serious ceremony. No harm done, right, Ginevra?” He turned to Ginny, who only glared back at him.

Ochs turned to Mr. Gudgeon and leaned in to whisper. “Funny, I thought the spell made them a bit more, how do you say, compliant?”

The official shrugged. “I guess it’s a bit off this time. Perhaps the spell from the ceremony hasn’t fully kicked in yet.”

“He did give her the rose, didn’t he?” Ochs asked.

“Of course, right after he said the incantation, just before you walked in,” the older man said. “I suggest you leave Mr. Potter alone and give him a chance to cool off.”

Molly rushed over and took Ochs by the arm. “Now, Mr. Ochs,” she said soothingly. “I apologize for Ginevra’s behavior. I’m sure she’s just nervous, with you being such an illustrious and noble gentleman from such an esteemed family. She’s just a bit shy.”

She continued, “Why don’t you come to The Burrow for supper this Sunday and we can all get to know you better?” she said, patting his arm. “I must say that our humble little home won’t compare to your grand manor, but it’s cozy, and I’ll treat you to my famous treacle tart!” she said, beaming up at him.

“Mr. Ochs, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, let us go to my office where we can finalize the paperwork,” said Gudgeon, taking Mrs. Weasley by the arm. “This part of the contract is between the groom and the parents of the bride, so Miss Weasley can stay here for now.” Ochs looked over at Ginny, then back at Gudgeon and nodded.

“Shall we?” the official asked, guiding the three older people out of the room and closing the door behind him, leaving Harry and Ginny behind in the conference room.

Harry watched them go, still sanding protectively in front of Ginny, his wand clutched in his hand. Once the door closed, he turned around and she rushed into his arms.

“Oh Harry, I’m so glad to have you back,” Ginny she, leaning up to kiss him. He pulled her close and kissed her deeply.

Pulling away, she looked into his eyes. “I didn’t realize how much I missed you!”

He chuckled. “You can’t miss what you don’t know you didn’t have!” He pulled her close and kissed her again, running his hands over her back and enjoying the softness of her skin.

They heard a cough from the corner and they jumped. Harry whipped around toward the sound, his wand drawn, and saw Hermione’s head appear in the corner. “Bloody hell, Hermione! What are you doing here?”

“Language, Harry!” she said with a grin, pulling off Harry’s Invisibility Cloak and walking across the conference room toward the couple. “I’ve been under your cloak this whole time. I was at The Burrow this morning when Ginny received the letter and the box that released the spell that started all of this. I could tell right away that she and her family had come under the influence of some kind of spell but I had no idea what it was, so I did some research and came here to watch the ceremony. I’m hoping that I can find the counterspell to release Ginny before she has to marry Ochs, ” she said, folding Harry’s cloak and setting it on the table.

“What spell? I’m really confused,” said Harry. “Why is everyone acting so weird? Why is Ginny now engaged to that…that… letch?”

Ginny jumped in, “Wait a minute, Harry,” she said, putting her hand on his arm. “Hermione, did you just restore our memories?”

“Yes I did, right before you took the rose from Harry. I see I have a lot of explaining to do,” she said, taking a breath and sitting down at the conference table. Ginny and Harry sat down across from her as she cast a silencing charm around the room and a spell to warn them when Ginny’s parents were heading back to collect their daughter.

“First, let me tell you about the _conubium_ spell,” she began. “When I saw that Ginny and her family, including Ron and the rest of her brothers, were under the influence of some kind of spell, I snuck out and went to your place, Harry, and borrowed your Invisibility Cloak,” she said, giving Harry an apologetic glance. “Then I came here to the Ministry to do some research in the library to see what was going on.”

“I still don’t know what spell you’re talking about, Hermione,” Harry impatiently.

“I’m getting to that. This morning a Ministry owl delivered a package to Ginny at The Burrow. After we checked it over for dark magic, she opened it and it activated a spell called the _conubium_. Apparently, Ginny, your parents entered into a contract before you were born, pledging their first daughter in marriage to Sebastian Ochs when she turns eighteen.”

Ginny gasped. “They wouldn’t do that!” she said, indignantly. “They may have been poor, but they would never have signed me away like that!”

“Well, perhaps they were coerced or forced. This was during Voldemort’s first reign of terror, so you never know. It could have been the _imperious_ curse, or maybe another spell,” Hermione said.

“Anyway,” she continued. “The spell is very old and was developed to ensure that the wizarding population didn’t die out by binding pureblood families through marriage. My research found that it was developed when wizards were being killed off during the witch hunts of the 1500’s and the remaining witches and wizards began marrying Muggles, diluting the magical pool. It was really helpful because it enabled wizardry to repopulate, but at that time the contracts were made between willing families when the boys and girls were babies, and the couple grew up knowing they were pledged to each other.”

“However,” she continued, “in the late nineteenth century, pureblood nobility hijacked the process and corrupted it.” She told them about the wealthy purebloods using the spell to bind families, expand fortunes, and gain power. She also told them about the _familias_ addendum that befuddled the bride and her family to happily comply with the marriage.

“That certainly explains the behavior of my family. You should see my brothers!” said Ginny.

“What do you mean?” asked Harry.

“We’ll have to tell you later, Harry. Molly and Arthur will be back in any minute,” said Hermione, hurriedly.

“Ginny, we’ll get to the bottom of this and find a way to release you from the spell. I promise you,” she said, looking at her friend. “For now, please go along with it and pretend to your parents that everything is fine and that you’re overjoyed to be engaged to Ochs.”

Ginny grimaced but nodded. “Okay, I’ll try. Just as long as I don’t have to spend any time alone with him,” she said with a shudder.

“Now, I need to quickly explain about the memory spell. Do you remember why we entered into it?” asked Hermione.

“Sure,” said Harry. “It was the only way to prevent Voldemort finding out about my feelings for Ginny.”

Ginny nodded in agreement.

“Right. And fortunately, we were successful. But today when I saw that Harry was going to be the Cavalier in the Betrothal ceremony, I knew that we couldn’t have Ginny under that many spells at once – the _familias_ , the _conubium_ , the betrothing spell, _and_ the memory spell,” Hermione listed, ticking each one off on her fingers. “Who knows what that would have done to either of your memories when he handed you that rose. One thing I’ve learned in my training is that when you combine ancient magic with powerful memory charms, it can have a permanent effect on your memory. That’s why I decided to restore your memories today before he handed you the rose,” Hermione said.

“It was a bit disorienting, I have to admit,” said Ginny. “So how did I break out of the _familias_ charm?” She shuddered at the thought of her behavior over the last five hours, which she remembered in vivid detail.

“I think that the spells clashed, and when your memories were restored it canceled the _familias_ charm on you,” Hermione said. “But it didn’t affect your family or the _conubium_ spell itself, unfortunately. As far as I can tell the memories of your parents and brothers are sill blocked, they’re still under the _familias_ spell, and you are still contracted to marry Ochs.”

Ginny groaned and sat back in her chair.

“Hermione,” Harry said. “Why did you wait so long to restore our memories? The final battle happened over six months ago.”

Hermione was caught off guard, knowing they weren’t going to be happy that she waited for so long, or for her reasons.

“Well, Harry, so much was going on back then,” she said, starting to list them off on her fingers. “First Ron was in his coma, then he had to recover, then we had our N.E.W.T.s, and Ginny went back to Hogwarts, then you started Auror training, and then….”

Fortunately she was cut off from having to say _and then you were shagging Marie Therese every night of the week_ , because her alarm chimed, alerting them that the others were returning. _Saved by the bell!_ she thought, though she knew she had some explaining to do once she and Harry were alone.

Hermione quickly waved off the silencing spell and covered herself with the Invisibility Cloak as the door opened and Molly bustled in. Hermione quickly whispered, “Remember, Ginny, pretend you’re still under the influence of the _familias_ and we’ll get in touch with you soon,” as she moved off to the side of the room.

“Ginny, dear, we need to get back to The Burrow,” cried Molly as she approached her daughter. “We have much to do to get ready for Ochs’s dinner on Sunday!” she squeezed her daughter’s arm, then turned around with a giggle and walked out the door.

“I’m not going to survive the weekend!” Ginny moaned as she turned to Harry.

“You’ll be fine, love,” said Harry, hugging her and giving her one last quick kiss. “Hermione and I will research this and let you know what we come up with, OK? Don’t worry, we have one of the greatest minds on the case, and you have me in your corner,” he said, looking into her brown eyes.

Ginny nodded. “I’m not worried. I just wish we could be together now that our memories are restored. I’ll miss you!” she said as she walked backwards out the door, blowing Harry one final kiss.

When the door closed behind her, Hermione pulled off the cloak.

“Okay, we need to come up with a plan,” she said, pulling out parchment, a quill and ink from her bag and sitting back down at the table.

“We already know what the spell is and that we have to break both the _conubium_ spell and the _familias_ charm,” she said, scribbling on the parchment. “We already know that the restoration of your memories succeeded in breaking the _familias_ charm on Ginny, but not the _conubium_. And we know that nothing has changed for the rest of the family.”

“So we need to find the counterspells for the _conubium_ and the and the _familias_ ,” repeated Harry, not sure what he could add but knowing from experience that he shouldn’t interfere when Hermione was on a roll. Thinking back their days at school, revising for exams, he waited for her to color code her notes and start making charts and graphs.

“I’ve already been through most of the books at the Ministry library and haven’t found any counter-spells. Apparently the Ministry didn’t have much interest in finding one since purebloods were bribing them to avoid doing the research,” she said bitterly, tapping the end of her quill against her chin. “But I know that many of the affected women were able to break it themselves, so there must be documentation somewhere, mostly likely in dark magic texts.” She knew that the _conubium_ and _familias_ weren’t dark magic, but anything done in secrecy was usually documented in dark texts.

“But where can we find dark magic texts?” asked Harry. “The Ministry isn’t going to have them.”

“Actually, they do, but they’re restricted. I don’t have the proper clearance yet and neither do you,” said Hermione. “We’ll both have access to them once we’re both fully certified in our professions, but that won’t help us now.”

She looked down at her notes, thinking.

“Wait a minute,” she said, sitting upright. “ _You_ have a collection of dark magic texts right under your nose, Harry! Or at least you did until you gave Grimmauld Place to Remus!”

“That’s right! The Blacks had several libraries worth of old books. I’m sure most of them are dark texts,” said Harry, brightening.

“I know, let’s ask Remus to help us,” said Hermione. “He’s quite familiar with those books, having lived there for these past few years. Why don’t we go there, explain the situation to him, release his memory charm, and then you can help him search Grimmauld Place and I’ll continue here.”

“Sounds good. It’ll be good to have his knowledge and experience,” said Harry as Hermione began to gather her things back into her bag.

“Wait a minute, Hermione,” he said, putting a hand on her arm, stopping her from getting up. “You didn’t finish telling me and Ginny why you waited so long to restore our memories. Everything’s been back to normal for months. Why didn’t you do it sooner?”

She sighed and sat back in her chair. “I’m really sorry. I really am, but has it really been back to normal, Harry?” she asked, looking at him pointedly. “Do you think spending almost every night in the bed of another woman – an older, married woman – is ‘back to normal’?”

“Oh, yeah,” Harry said, blushing and fiddling with the silver braiding on his cuff. “I forgot about Therese,” he said and then paused as the reality of the situation hit him. “Oh, God, what am I going to do about her, Hermione? Now that I know about Ginny, I don’t want to have to choose.”

“Oh Harry, I know you love Therese,” said Hermione, taking his hands. “She’s a wonderful woman and I can see why you’re in love with her. She’s made you very happy these past months.” She looked into his eyes. “But you have been in love with Ginny since your sixth year in school and she with you even longer than that. You belong together. You and Therese don’t have a future. She’s married and you know she can’t leave her husband.”

“I know. I just don’t want to hurt her,” he said sadly, looking down at their hands.

“Well, let’s wait until we get this other problem sorted out before we worry about that, okay?” she said, standing up. “Why don’t you tell Therese that you have overnight Auror duty for a few days and won’t be able to see her. You should also avoid Ginny until then too.”

“Why avoid Ginny? We’ve been apart for a year and a half, I don’t want to be apart now!” Harry said, standing and smoothing out his robes.

“It’s best that you stay apart because it might interfere with the spell. We don’t know what would happen if you were to snog, or, heaven forbid, shag. She is, after all, supposed to be a virgin bride,” she pointed out.

“Hermione!” Harry said, blushing, looking up to see Hermione grinning at him.

He swatted her arm lightly and grinned back at her. “Let’s go,” he said, picking up her bag. “Let’s grab some takeaway to take to Grimmauld Place. It’s getting towards suppertime and Remus isn’t much of a cook,” Harry said as he held out his hand for Hermione and they left the conference room.

Note: This is the end of Act II. Act III should be coming soon!


	14. Chapter 14

  
Author's notes: Here we go - Act III! Only a few more chapters to go and all of the mysteries will be revealed (yes, there are still a few mysteries left!). Thank you for sticking with the story and for the lovely reviews. I'll reveal the name of the opera soon.  


* * *

**Act III – The next day, Grimmauld Place  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 14**  
  
  
  
“Do you want a butterbeer?” asked a voice coming from inside the fridge.  
  
  
  
“No, I’m fine with coffee for now,” said Remus, sitting at the table in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, eating one last bite of desert. “Goes better with the Sacher torte.”  
  
  
  
Harry grabbed a butterbeer from the fridge and walked over to the table, sitting down at his seat across from Remus, lunch dishes pushed to the side.  
  
  
  
“This is so good. Where did you get it?” asked Remus, licking off his fork with relish.  
  
  
  
“Therese sent it to me from Vienna,” Harry said, having already polished off his slice of the chocolate cake with apricot filling. “She Portkeyed there yesterday for the Vienna Symphony’s annual New Year’s Day concert.”  
  
  
  
“Oh, I’ve heard of that concert,” said Remus, a Muggle classical music fan. “I hear that it’s impossible to get tickets.”  
  
  
  
“Her family has seats that have been handed down the since founding of the orchestra. The concert and the Sacher torte are her family’s only Muggle indulgences, she says. And opera too,” he said, making a face.  
  
  
  
“Not a fan of opera?” asked Remus, smiling at his friend.  
  
  
  
“Not really,” Harry said as he took a swig of his butterbeer. “She’s tried to get me to listen to some, but it’s too boring, too screechy.”   
  
  
  
“It gets better once you learn a bit about each opera and see some live performances,” said Remus, who occasionally took in a performance at Covent Garden when he had some extra money.  
  
  
  
“Well, as far as Therese’s Muggle preferences go, I much prefer the Sacher torte. She owled this one to me this morning,” Harry said, picking up some crumbs from his empty plate and licking them off his finger. “It’s my favorite. She had me try a piece of it last summer and ever since then she brings me whole tortes from her trips to visit her family in Vienna. I swear I could eat a whole one in one sitting!”  
  
  
  
“You mean it’s replaced Molly’s treacle tart in your affections?” teased the older man.  
  
  
  
“Oh no, nothing can take the place of Molly’s cooking!” Harry hastened to reassure him. “I mean, it’s the first thing that made me feel like I had a real home. So I guess Sacher Torte will have to run a very close second,” he said, smiling at his friend.  
  
  
  
“So you haven’t seen Therese since New Year’s Eve?” asked Remus.  
  
  
  
“No. I sent Hedwig with a note yesterday telling her that I would be busy with Auror duties for the next few days and wouldn’t be able to see her for a bit,” Harry said, taking a swig of his butterbeer. “It happens now and then, so she won’t suspect anything is wrong.”  
  
  
  
He paused, looking at the bottle in his hand. “I needed some time to think about what’s happened and what I need to do,” he continued.  
  
  
  
“What do you think you’ll do, Harry?” asked Remus, concern in his eyes.  
  
  
  
Harry looked at his friend. “I don’t know. I mean, I love Therese, I really do. I don’t know how I could live without her.” He paused, peeling at the bottle’s label. “But Ginny… I’ve loved her for so long. She’s my whole heart. You know what I mean?”  
  
  
  
“Yes, I do think I do,” said Remus quietly, looking down at the table.  
  
  
  
Harry looked at the sad expression on his friend’s face and his heart sank. He’d been so wrapped up in his own problems that he forgot Remus was still hurting from losing Tonks in the final battle. Harry felt a twinge of guilt, both for the role he played in Tonks’s death, and for complaining about choosing between two women who loved him to a man had none.  
  
  
  
“Yeah, I guess you do. Sorry.”  
  
  
  
“Nothing to apologize for, Harry.” Remus said. “It’s a big deal to suddenly find out that the girl you thought of as a sister is actually your long lost-love. And on top of everything else that you’ve been through. It’s a lot to take in.”  
  
  
  
“Yeah. I just don’t know what to do. All I can do right now is help Hermione break the _Conubium_ spell tonight. We can’t let Ginny go ahead with the engagement, let alone the actual marriage ceremony.”  
  
  
  
“That’s for damn sure,” said Remus. “God, imagine her actually marrying that abysmal oaf. Not only is he a former Death Eater supporter, he’s a loud, obnoxious womanizer and would undoubtedly treat her horribly.”  
  
  
  
“Yeah, you should have seen him yesterday. His hands were all over Ginny, and the things he said about her! If she’d had access to her wand, he would have had bat bogeys flying out of his arse!” He laughed at the thought of Ochs rolling on the floor covered with green slimy bats.   
  
  
  
“I’d love to see that!” said Remus, having seen first hand the wrath of Ginny.  
  
  
  
“It is funny, though, the effect this has had on the Weasleys,” Harry said with a chuckle. “Molly is acting so strangely, gushing about Ginny marrying into a ‘great noble family.’ You’d think Ginny was marrying royalty or something.”  
  
  
  
“Yeah, she’s a regular Mrs. Bennett! Next thing you know she’ll be arranging for Fred and George to marry the Bulstrode sisters, just to maintain the pureblood line!” said Remus.  
  
  
  
“What? Who’s Mrs. Bennett?” asked Harry.  
  
  
  
“Sorry, Muggle literature. Didn’t you read any Jane Austin in your Muggle school?”  
  
  
  
“Oh, I don’t think we read any of that while I was there.”   
  
  
  
“Well, they certainly are acting strange, but it’s entertaining,” said Remus. “Did you know that Fred and George offered to help Ginny pick out her trousseau?”  
  
  
  
“I don’t even want to know what that is!” said Harry, laughing. “But Ron asked me if I thought Ginny would like a silver tea service as a wedding present. Can you imagine Ginny’s expression if she opened up a gift like that from Ron?”  
  
  
  
“And, get this,” Remus said, trying to stop laughing long enough to tell Harry, “Charlie offered to name his next dragon hatchling _Sebastian_ , in honor of the illustrious groom!” cried Remus, shaking his head.  
  
  
  
They both broke down laughing. Harry thought that the entertainment alone was worth the spell – at least for a few days. He knew Ginny would have enough ammunition to hold against her brothers to last a lifetime. He wished they had a Muggle video camera to capture her brothers’ behavior and to play back at opportune moments.  
  
  
  
They both quieted and Remus wiped a tear from his eye. “I’m glad that Hermione finally found the counterspell, though.”  
  
  
  
“Well, you’re the one who pointed her in the right direction,” Harry said.  
  
  
  
“All that time spent cooped up in this place over the last few years, I think I’ve read the entire Black family library. I knew I’d seen something in one of those books about the _Conubium_ spell.”  
  
  
  
Remus had found a book in the Grimmauld Place library that discussed a counterspell that had been handed down from female to female in certain pureblood families. He passed the name of the spell to Hermione, who was able to find the proper incantation and details in a book at the Ministry library.  
  
  
  
He had remembered Sirius complaining about women in his family secretly discussing what his mother called “women’s wisdom” – things that supposedly only women could know. His cousins and aunts were always whispering to each other and refused to tell him and his brother what they were talking about.  
  
  
  
Sirius assumed they’d been just talking about contraceptive spells and potions for helping with their cycles, but Remus now believed they’d been discussing the _Conubium_ counterspell, since that was around the time that Sirius’s female cousins had married. He wondered if Narcissa Malfoy or Bellatrix Lestrange’s marriages were results of the _Conubium_ and questioned why they hadn’t used the counterspell. Perhaps they had actually _chosen_ to marry Lucius and Rodolphus? Remus shuddered at the thought.  
  
  
  
Andromeda, Tonks’s mother, had married a Muggle-born wizard, so perhaps she successfully used the counterspell to get out of whatever had been planned for her so she could marry Ted Tonks. _It’s no wonder she was ostracized from the family_ , thought Remus.  
  
  
  
Unfortunately, they couldn’t ask any of them about the counter spells. Bellatrix and Narcissa were both dead, and Andromeda had been so traumatized by the events of the war, particularly the death of her beloved daughter Nymphadora, that she’d had a nervous breakdown last summer and was still under heavy sedation at St. Mungo’s. She was making progress, but would not likely be able to provide much information.  
  
  
  
So they had the counter spell for the _Conubium_ , but the problem now was releasing the family from the _Familias_ spell, which was a bit more complicated. A simple incantation wasn’t enough. The old book said that the family must be shaken by “a shock moste grave” simultaneously with the spell’s incantation.  
  
  
  
Hermione, Remus and Harry, sitting in the lounge at Grimmauld place the previous evening, had puzzled over what this cryptic message meant. Harry had suggested that they needed to be shocked by electricity. Hermione had waved this off as too dangerous and unlikely, given that wizards didn’t have much experience with electricity.  
  
  
  
Remus had suggested a shock to their senses, like a loud noise or flash of light. Hermione considered this but showed them the accompanying illustration that depicted three people with their hands clasped over their mouths, looking aghast or scandalized by something.  
  
  
  
“What about showing or telling them something really horrifying?” suggested Remus.  
  
  
  
Hermione pondered this for a moment. “What would the Weasleys find really horrifying, particularly in their current condition?”  
  
  
  
“Telling them that Ginny’s wedding dress won’t be ready in time for the wedding?” Remus said, snickering.  
  
  
  
“Or telling them that Ginny was too fat for her wedding dress?” Hermione added, smothering a grin.  
  
  
  
“Or that they had to hold the wedding reception at the Hog’s Head?” suggested Remus.  
  
  
  
“Or telling them that Ginny wasn’t a virgin so she couldn’t wear white in the wedding?” Harry chimed in.  
  
  
  
Hermione gasped. “What? Ginny’s not a virgin? Harry!” she scolded, swatting him on the arm.  
  
  
  
“See? It shocked you!” Harry said with a grin. “I was only teasing. We, uh, never got that far,” he said, looking at his shoes.  
  
  
  
“How about something that would make them see what a letch Ochs is, what a womanizer he is?” suggested Remus. “It would kill two birds with one stone.”  
  
  
  
“That may work,” said Hermione, thinking for a moment. “How about if they catch him with another woman?”  
  
  
  
“Sounds plausible. What other woman can we use?” asked Remus.  
  
  
  
“I would do it,” said Hermione, “but I think Ron would have a heart attack if he saw me with Ginny’s fiancé, spell or no spell.”  
  
  
  
“You’re right,” agreed Harry. “It needs to be someone else. Someone that we can trust with this task, someone we know well. Someone we know he’ll be attracted to.”  
  
  
  
“Tonks would have been perfect for this,” mused Remus. “She could make herself into the type of woman he’d be attracted to.”  
  
  
  
“But, from how you describe him, anyone with breasts and a skirt would do, I’d imagine,” snorted Hermione.  
  
  
  
Harry paused for a moment, blushing at the thought of the last pair of breasts he’d touched, the last skirt he’d come into contact with, on his own body.  
  
  
  
“Uh, I may know of someone,” he said tentatively.  
  
  
  
“Who?” asked Hermione.  
  
  
  
“Me.”


	15. Chapter 15

  
Author's notes: Quidditch3 wins the prize! Q3 correctly guessed that the opera that this story is based on is _Der Rosenkavalier_ , by Richard Strauss. It translates into The Cavalier of the Rose, so that’s where I got the Auror-in-Training name of Cavalier. It’s a lovely opera, which you can find info about online if you like. Marie Therese is the Princess/Marschallin, and Ochs is her cousin, the Baron von Ochs (I happened to like the name Sebastian, so I gave that to him). If you read the synopsis you can find out where the rest of the HP characters fit in. I pay homage to the opera in several scenes in my story, including this chapter.  
Please review! Your reviews help feed my muse! (Hey, that rhymes!)  


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Harry sat morosely on the bed in his old room at Grimmauld Place, the one he had shared with Ron during school and used during the summer after the final battle before he moved into his flat.

 

 

He did not have many fond memories of the room. He had lived there for a month during the summer after his fourth year, suffering from guilt over Cedric’s death, worrying about Voldemort’s return, and agonizing over his pending Ministry hearing for casting a Patronus to get rid of the dementors that had attacked him and Dudley that summer. He lived there during Christmas his fifth year when he thought he was at fault for Arthur’s attack by Voldemort’s snake Nagini. The room was filled with his guilt over Sirius’s death and everything Harry had done during the war. Being there threatened to overwhelm him with the guilt that Marie Therese had helped him overcome, and he was eager to get out of there and get on with their plan. But he needed a few minutes by himself to think about what he had to do that evening.

 

 

He stood and looked into the mirror on the bureau across from him, which cried out, “You look like a common harlot!” He responded with a nasty look and a rude gesture.

 

 

He looked down at his sheer pink blouse, short black skirt, dark hose and black pumps, then back up into the mirror at his shoulder-length, teased black hair, heavy makeup and red lips, and he realized that he did indeed looked like a common harlot. _Perhaps Hermione went a bit too far with the glamour charm_ , he thought ruefully.

 

 

Hermione had modified Marie Therese’s glamour charm to turn him from Henrietta the pretty chambermaid to Henrietta the sexy siren, so that he could more easily entrap Ochs, but in his opinion she took him a bit past sexy to downright whorish.

 

 

_All the better to seduce Ochs, I guess_ , he thought with a sigh, though it didn’t make him feel any better about what he had gotten himself into. He tucked his wand into his stocking just in case he needed to hex the old wanker.

 

 

The previous night, after he, Remus and Hermione had devised their plan to shock the Weasleys out of the _Familias_ charm, Harry had sent a brown barn owl with a note from Henrietta to Ochs, asking him to meet her at the Leaky Cauldron. The owl waited for a response, and Ochs returned the bird with an immediate and enthusiastic reply. They were to meet at precisely seven in the evening in one of the private rooms in the back of the restaurant, which Harry had arranged in advance with Tom the barman. Harry had explained how he wanted the room set up and that Tom was to lead Ochs to the room no earlier than seven o’clock. Harry would Apparate directly to the room from Grimmauld Place to avoid seeing anyone he knew in the restaurant.

 

 

Harry thought about the plan. If all went well, Ginny would be released from the spell and they would be free to move on with their lives together. He was sure that’s what Ginny expected, and he thought it was what he wanted. _But is that what I want? Do I want Ginny or do I want Therese?_

 

 

He thought back on his time with Marie Therese and felt a bittersweet pang. He loved her, he knew that. He had thoroughly enjoyed these months with her. She had brought him out of the blackness of the war and had taught him about love and sex. How could he tell her about Ginny and the blocked memories of their feelings for each other? How could he leave her? Intellectually he knew that they couldn’t have had a life together, but he was honest in his offer to run away with her. He would have left everything behind to be with her.

 

 

But looking back over the past six months, he now recognized that there was always something nagging at the back of his mind, telling him that what he was doing was wrong. He figured it was his guilt over coveting and falling in love with another man’s wife. But now he realized that perhaps, just perhaps, he knew all along that his heart belonged elsewhere.

 

 

He thought back to one night in mid-July after he and Therese had spent several hours exploring every inch of each other’s bodies, when he had confessed his fears to her.

 

 

_Harry lay on his side next to Marie Therese in her big bed, his leg thrown over hers, his head on her shoulder._

__

 

__

 

_“Therese?”_

__

 

__

 

_“Yes, Schatz.”_

__

 

__

 

_“Why do you love me?”_

__

 

__

 

_“Why do I love you? Well, Harry, that’s obvious. I love you because of that thing pressed up against my leg,” she teased, kissing his forehead and stroking his hair. He loved it when she ran her fingers through his hair. It relaxed him completely._

__

 

__

 

_“I’m serious!” Harry said, looking up at her. “I mean, I’ve never had anyone tell me that they loved me before tonight. Except, I guess, my parents, but I don’t remember that. You’re the first that I can remember. Do you actually love me for more than my former status as the boy-who-lived? Or this thing pressed up against your leg?” he asked, laying his head back onto her shoulder._

__

 

__

 

_“Of course I do. I love you for who you are and for the man you’ve become, despite what you’ve been through, and despite the horrid treatment by your relatives. I love you for the goodness of your heart, your ability to love completely.” She stopped stroking his hair and looked at his face with concern. “Why do you ask?”_

__

 

__

 

_“I don’t know,” he said, not looking at her. “Other than a brief disaster with a girl in fifth year and a short thing with Ginny, I never had a chance to really love someone, and I was beginning to wonder if anyone would ever love me for who I was, not just what I’d done. I was worried that you just saw me as another person you were taking care of, that you were doing this out of pity.”_

__

 

__

 

_“Oh, Harry, this isn’t a pity thing,” she said, turning his face toward hers. “I really do care about you, I do love you. You make me feel wonderful. You make me feel young and beautiful.”_

__

 

__

 

_“That’s because you ARE beautiful, Therese,” he propped himself up and looked at her. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known,” he said, softly, taking her hand and kissing it._

__

 

__

 

_“So is that the reason you love me?” she teased._

__

 

__

 

_“Of course not, Therese. I love you because of these,” he said with a grin, stroking his finger into her cleavage and climbing on top of her to straddle her legs, giving her a lustful grin before he leaned down for a deep kiss._

 

 

That night was the first time she’d told him that she loved him. He was overjoyed to hear those words but even as he lay content in her arms, he felt an odd pang. He knew that he loved her, but he felt ashamed for some reason. He had the feeling that there was something wrong, that he shouldn’t be there in her bed. He hadn’t recognized it at the time, but now he realized that it must have been his memories of Ginny trying to creep to the surface, trying to tell him that he had indeed been loved, and that that person still loved him and was waiting for him.

 

 

He thought back to his and Ginny’s last night together at Bill and Fleur’s wedding and sighed. He knew he loved her with every part of his heart. He loved the way she knew the real Harry and could pull him out of any self-absorbed depression he got himself into. He loved her strength and the fire that flowed through her – from her fiery temper to the fire in her hair and the blaze in her eyes. He’d felt the bond when they trained together in the months leading up to the final battle, and during the battle she was the only one who could keep him calm and focused. He didn’t know how a simple memory charm could have blocked that out for a year and a half and he hadn’t been prepared for the intensity of his feelings when they returned. It felt as though his insides were on fire with them and he didn’t know how to handle it.

 

 

He knew he’d have to make a decision soon, and he wasn’t looking forward to hurting someone he cared about.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

A knock at the door shook Harry from his memories as Remus opened the door and stuck his head in.

 

 

“Ready to go? You’ve got ten minutes before you’re supposed to be there.”

 

 

“I’ll be right down,” Harry said, standing up once again and smoothing his skirt.

 

 

He walked gingerly down the stairs, careful not to trip over his high heels. _This was much easier going up than it is going down,_ Harry thought as he clung to the banister. _I can see why women hate these things so much. I could easily break my ankle_. Hermione had taught him how to walk in the three-inch pumps, how to swivel his hips and not trip over his feet. She’d insisted that he practice by walking around Grimmauld Place, but he felt silly prancing in front of her and Remus. He kept telling himself that he was doing it for Ginny, and possibly for their future.

 

 

Luckily he only had to be in this outfit for another half hour or so. Hermione had designed the charm to deactivate when Harry waved his wand and said _Finite Incantatem_. That was safer than using a time-based spell, since they didn’t know when their mission would be accomplished or if he would need to return to his normal self before returning to Grimmauld Place.

 

 

When he got to the kitchen, Hermione and Remus were sitting at the table waiting for him.

 

 

“Now Harry, don’t be nervous,” said Hermione. “You look dead sexy like that, by the way,” she said, grinning at her friend.

 

 

“It’s true, Harry. If I were just a few years younger…” Remus said wistfully, gazing at him with doe eyes before the two broke into giggles.

 

 

“Oh just shut it!” Harry said tersely, pacing in front of the fire. “I can’t wait to get out of this confining skirt and these horrible death traps I have on my feet!”

 

 

“I think every man should walk a few miles in women’s shoes just to know what it’s like to wear the clothes they think are so sexy,” said Hermione, primly.

 

 

“Never mind,” said Harry, irritated. “Let’s just get this over with,” he said, as he pulled his wand out of the holster under his skirt, ready to Apparate to the Leaky Cauldron.

 

 

 

 

**A/N:** In case you’re wondering, Marie Therese's lover in the opera dresses as a girl as well. His part is actually what is called a “Trouser Role”, which is where a female mezzo-soprano plays the part of a young man. It's a bit odd at first, but you get used to it.  For some reason, both Mozart and Strauss liked to have these characters dress as girls at some point the opera in order to pull the wool over someone’s eyes (e.g., Mozart’s _The Marriage of Figaro_ ), as Harry does here. These are my favorite roles in all of opera and if I'd had an opera voice I would have tried to sing them. So, in keeping with the theme, I just had to dress Harry as a girl again!


	16. Chapter 16

  
Author's notes: **Author’s note:**  Only a few more chapters!  Special thanks to my beta, Mench, for her patience and her keen eye!  


* * *

**CHAPTER 16**

 

 

Harry Apparated directly into the private room at the back of the Leaky Cauldron. He saw, as he’d requested, a fire burning in the fireplace and a table laid out with wine, cheese, fruit, and bread. By the fireplace was a small sofa, angled to face the door so that he and Ochs would be seen when the Weasleys walked in.

 

 

In the corner of the room was an ornate screen, behind which he could see a bed. He had requested the bed to add to the charade of an illicit tryst, hoping it would increase the impact of the scene. Harry made the assumption (and the fervent prayer) that the scene wouldn’t get that far.

 

 

He sat on one of the chairs and nervously awaited his appointment. At one minute after seven o’clock he heard voices coming down the hall.

 

 

“…of course, Tom, she’s a pretty thing, curves in all the right places. I think she’ll be quite willing too, if you know what I mean!” the voice said, followed by an obnoxious booming laugh.

 

 

A moment later the door opened and Sebastian Ochs walked in, dressed in fine black robes and carrying his walking stick. Tom followed behind him, nodded at Harry, gave a discrete wink, and quietly closed the door as he left. Harry stood up to greet his guest, smoothing down his skirt and taking a cautious step forward.

 

 

“Ah, Henrietta, my dear,” Ochs blustered as he walked toward the sofa. “I was so pleased to get your note. You know, I could tell there was chemistry between us, am I right?” he said, sidling up to Harry. “I could tell that you couldn’t resist me. Your mouth said no, my dear, but your eyes said yes.”

 

 

“Oh yes,” Harry said in a voice that was magically charmed to sound like a woman’s, yet strangely still like his own – sort of like it did before his voice changed at 13. “I could tell that you were a powerful and wealthy man and I, uh, wanted to get to know you better.” He hoped he didn’t sound as stupid as he felt.

 

 

“Well, don’t you look lovely tonight,” he said with a leer as he looked Harry slowly up and down. “Very fetching outfit. I knew you were hiding something under that chambermaid’s uniform! Come here and give me a kiss!” he said, grabbing for Harry.

 

 

Harry pulled away and walked over to the table. “Um…wine?” he said, pouring two glasses. He looked at the clock. Three minutes past seven. _Only seven more minutes. I have to hold him off for seven minutes before Hermione arrives with the Weasleys. I can do this. I can do this._

 

 

Ochs took the glass that Harry offered and took a sip. “Very good. Make sure you drink up, my dear!”

 

 

_Yeah, you’d love to get nice and drunk, wouldn’t you, you big letch._ He pretended to take a sip from the glass that he’d charmed to empty as he faked his sips. Sebastian noticed how quickly Harry seemed to be drinking and smiled encouragingly as he poured some more.

 

 

“Are you nervous, dear? You needn’t be,” said the older man, stroking Harry’s arm. “I’m quite harmless, you see.”

 

 

Harry giggled nervously. “Oh, I should go slow. Wine makes me a little lightheaded!” he said, shrinking back from Ochs.

 

 

“Ah good, that’s what I like to hear, my dear,” Sebastian said as he tried to put an arm around Harry’s waist again.

 

 

Harry spun away. “Would you like something to eat? I ordered some food,” he said, stepping toward the table.

 

 

“Sure. This is lovely,” Ochs said, walking to the sofa and taking a seat. “Why don’t you come sit next to me? I don’t bite….unless you want me to,” he said, grinning lasciviously at his companion.

 

 

Harry took a handful of grapes and popped one into his mouth nervously and chewed as he cautiously sat next to the older man. Then he remembered something Hermione had taught him. He took another grape, sucked it slowly into his mouth and ran his tongue over his lips. He felt incredibly stupid, but could tell that it had its intended effect as Ochs looked back at him with undisguised lust.

 

 

Harry glanced at the clock. Seven past seven. _I only have to do this for three more minutes._

 

 

Ochs put a hand on Harry’s knee and he flinched but covered it up with a giggle as he slid away a few inches. Ochs, feeling more emboldened, moved closer and gave Harry’s knee a squeeze.

 

 

“I was surprised to get your owl, Henrietta, but so delighted,” he growled. “I could tell, the other day in my cousin’s bedchamber, that you were as interested as I was. That shy act didn’t fool me, my dear!” he said, as he leaned in for a kiss.

 

 

Harry jumped up, knocking Ochs’s head out of the way with his shoulder, wobbled on his high heels and stumbled. Ochs reached out a hand to steady him and pulled him down into his lap. Harry groaned inwardly as Ochs said, “There we are now, isn’t that better?” and slid his hand up Harry’s leg.

 

 

_Come on, Hermione, where are you?_

 

 

“Now, Mr. Ochs, I want to take this slow. It’s my first time,” he said bashfully, turning to the older man and looking up at him through his eyelashes, as Hermione had taught him.

 

 

“Please, call me Sebastian. I’ll be gentle, my darling. I will make you feel like a princess!” he said as he breathed his pungent wine-soaked breath into Harry’s face.

 

 

_Ugh, I’d hate to know what_ that _would be like_ , he thought as he turned his face away from Ochs’s and pulled the man’s hand away from his thigh. _I truly hope this works so we can get Ginny away from this letch. Come on, Hermione!_

 

 

As though his friend had read his thoughts, the fireplace flared twice – Hermione’s signal that she was heading down the hallway toward the back room with the Weasleys. Harry breathed a sigh of relief and jumped into action, sitting more fully on Ochs’s lap and running his hands through the older man’s hair.

 

 

“Oh, I just love older men,” he simpered. “They’re so much more experienced and they know how to treat a girl…” he said as Ochs groaned in appreciation.

 

 

Harry offered up a silent prayer of thanks when the door opened and several people entered the room. Molly, Arthur, Ginny, Hermione and Ron walked into the sitting area and took in the sight of Ginny’s fiancé with a painted tart in his lap, running her hands through his hair. Molly gasped and grasped onto Arthur’s arm for support.

 

 

“What in the bloody hell is going on?” yelled Ron, while Ginny looked confusedly at Ochs and his companion.

 

 

Ochs yelped and stood up, tumbling Harry to the floor.

 

 

In the commotion, nobody heard a soft incantation spoken by Hermione in the back of the group. Unfortunately, Ron’s new Auror reflexes were quicker and he flashed his wand and cried out at the same moment, casting a hex at Ochs. A burst of light hit the older man square in the chest and he toppled to the floor next to Harry, who scrambled away.

 

 

“What did you do to him?” cried Molly, rushing over to check on Ochs.

 

 

“It was just a stunner, Mum. I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Ron assured his mother.

 

 

“You can’t hex Ginny’s fiancé, Ron,” she cried. “It’s just not done! What if people found out? It could ruin Ginny’s chances of marrying him!” she wailed, fussing over her future son-in-law, who was out cold on the floor.

 

 

Ron blinked and then said, “Oh, I’m sorry, Mum, I’m not sure what came over me.” He hurried to stand next to Molly and Arthur, who were both hovering over Ochs. “Is he okay? Do you think he’ll still want to marry her?”

 

 

Nobody noticed the painted tart in the tight skirt crawling away from the scene, creeping toward Hermione.

 

 

“What happened?” he asked Hermione in a loud whisper as he reached her, standing up on wobbly legs and straightening his skirt. “Why didn’t it work? They’re just as crazy as ever!”

 

 

“I think it was Ron’s stunner. It must have counteracted my spell!” she cried softly. “Neither the _Conubium_ nor the _Familias_ counterspells took effect! Oh heavens, what are we going to do now?”

 

 

Harry looked over at Ginny, who seemed unsure which conversation to listen to. Their eyes met and a glimmer of recognition crossed her features. He quickly looked away and grabbed Hermione’s arm.

 

 

“Let’s go out into the hall so I can change back. I think it’s time for Henrietta to _go home_ ,” Harry said angrily as he pulled he headed for the door, avoiding Ginny’s gaze.

 

 

Hermione looked at Ginny and stage-whispered to her, “Stay here and watch your parents. I’ll be right back.” She walked out the door and shut it behind her before the younger witch could follow.

 

 

Harry was waiting for her in the hall. “What in the hell happened? I thought we had it all figured out!” he whispered furiously.

 

 

“Ron happened. God, I love him, but he can be such a git sometimes! This is ancient magic we’re dealing with, Harry, and his stunner must have done something to my spell,” Hermione said anxiously. “We’ll just have to go back to the books and do more research.”

 

 

“We can’t wait any longer! I just spent ten minutes with that….that _octopus_. Only ten minutes with him and I feel like I need a shower. He was all over me the whole time, the letch!” he spat. “We can’t let Ginny spend even a minute alone with him. Given the state her family’s in, he could probably feel her up at the dinner table and the whole family would cheer him on!”

 

 

“Oh Harry, you forget how good Ginny is with a hex,” Hermione said, chuckling. “She can take care of herself.”

 

 

“I don’t _care_ …” started Harry, who was interrupted by voices coming down the hall.

 

 

“Therese, I think we should wait a few more minutes before we go back there…” they heard Remus’s voice saying as footsteps grew closer.

 

 

Harry looked at Hermione, eyes wide in panic, and she quickly waved her wand at him. He looked down as he felt his body changing back to normal and watched his clothes transform into trousers, a button-down shirt and robes. He felt his feet relax as the pumps changed into loafers, and his glasses reappeared on his face.

 

 

“Thanks! I couldn’t remember the counterspell,” he whispered to Hermione as Marie Therese and Remus rounded the corner.

 

 

“Hermione! How are you, dear?” Marie Therese asked as she came toward the younger witch and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “And Harry, what are you doing here? I thought you had Auror duty,” she asked as she hugged him and kissed him on his cheek. Harry hugged her back but looked helplessly at Hermione over Therese’s shoulder.

 

 

“Harry, Hermione, what’s going on?” asked Marie Therese. “Remus asked me to meet him here, but then we saw you and the Weasleys head back here without even stopping to say hello. Remus told me that Ginny has been pledged to my cousin Sebastian by the _Conubium_ spell and that they were here to meet him, so I came back here to see for myself. Is it true?”

 

 

“Hermione,” interjected Remus, “it occurred to me after you both left tonight that Marie Therese may know how to cancel the spells in case our plan didn’t work. So I floo-called her and she agreed to meet me here right away. We both arrived just before you walked in the door with the Weasleys, so we didn’t get a chance to go into the details before she insisted in heading back here.”

 

 

“Oh God, Remus, why didn’t we think of asking her in the first place? Of course she’d know, given her family background,” said Hermione, smacking her forehead with her palm. She turned to Marie Therese. “Ginny got the package that activated the _Conubium_ spell yesterday morning and they had the Betrothing ceremony at the Ministry in the afternoon. I spent the rest of the day yesterday at the Ministry library doing research while Remus looked through the books at Grimmauld Place. We finally found a book from the Black family library that said gave us the counter spell for the _Conubium_. That was simple, but for the _Familias_ , it said that you need to give the incantation for the counterspell while the family receives a shock. So we, um, decided to shock them.”

 

 

“And how did you do that?” asked Marie Therese, her eyebrows raised.

 

 

Hermione waved her wand at Harry and he transformed back into the tarty version of Henrietta. Marie Therese threw back her head and laughed.

 

 

“Your creation, Hermione?” she said, smiling at her young friend. Hermione nodded.

 

 

“Yes, we all walked in on ‘Henrietta’ sitting on Ochs’s lap,” she said with a giggle. Harry glared at her through his mascara’d lashes. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Ron, my darling fiancé, shot a stunner at Ochs before I could finish the incantations.”

 

 

Marie Therese grinned at Harry. “I see you made improvements on my first attempt. He’s quite sexy, I’d say,” she said as Harry turned his glare on the older woman. “Makes me want to reconsider my preferences,” she said with a giggle, reaching out and stroking Harry’s cheek.

 

 

“Hermione,” said Harry with warning in his voice, and she quickly waved him back to his normal self as Marie Therese pulled her hand away.

 

 

“So, your counterspell with the shock didn’t work,” the older witch said, regaining her composure. “I think that one is actually a bit antiquated. The women in my family a few generations back came up with a new way to counter it a few decades before the _Conubium_ was abolished, but it was never recorded in any books – only in private correspondence and diaries.”

 

 

“Darn, I hadn’t thought of that,” said Hermione. “I was just in such a hurry to find the answer that I hadn’t thought it through. We should have thought of asking you.” Hermione looked thoroughly embarrassed by her oversight. Harry thought he heard her mutter something about books and cleverness under her breath.

 

 

“Not to worry, it’s an easy mistake to make,” Marie Therese said patted the young witch’s hand reassuringly. She looked at the dejected look on Hermione’s face and took her arm. “Come on. Let’s go in and see what we can do.”


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER 17**

 

“And of course, we’ll have dancing after the ceremony, a large cake with spun sugar flowers to match the dresses, fairy lights tinted to match as well, a champagne fountain, and I’ll make the food….”

 

Harry, Hermione, Remus and Marie Therese walked back into the private room to find Ochs sitting in a chair, revived from his stunning spell but dazedly listening to Molly regaling him with wedding plans, Arthur standing mutely in agreement. 

 

They also found Ginny and Ron arguing in the corner.

 

“I don’t care, Ron, I am __not__ going to marry him!” Ginny spat furiously.

 

“But Gin, he’s so rich. And a pureblood. And he obviously loves you, can’t you tell?” Ron pleaded. 

 

Marie Therese bit back a grin at the scene in front of her. 

 

Ochs jumped up when he saw her, obviously relieved to see a friendly face. “Ah, cousin!” he exclaimed, throwing off Molly and Arthur and hurrying over to her side. “So good to see you! What are you doing here?” He pulled her to the side.

 

“Tell me,” he said in a hushed voice. “Did you happen to see Henrietta out there? We had a little date here and she disappeared once these folks showed up,” he said, waving vaguely at the others in the room.

 

“As a matter of fact, I did, Sebastian. She said to congratulate you on your engagement,” said Marie Therese, ignoring his vexed reaction.

 

Molly rushed over to the pair. “Therese, how __are__ you? Can you believe that our little Ginny is going to be married to your fine cousin?” she asked, taking Ochs’s arm. “We’re all beside ourselves, aren’t we, Arthur?”

 

Her husband nodded enthusiastically.

 

“Harry!” Ginny cried when she noticed Harry standing by the door. She ran over to him and took his hand. He looked embarrassed but took her hand and looked sheepishly over at Marie Therese, who pretended not to notice.

 

“We’re so glad you’re here,” said Molly to Marie Therese. “Now you can help us plan the wedding!” she gushed. “We’re going to be family!” She hugged the other witch tightly. 

 

Therese gently disengaged herself from Molly, pulled out her wand, and said, “No, Molly, I’m afraid not…” She looked at the group and muttered several incantations, flicking her wand in a complex pattern. 

 

Suddenly, a green mist settled over the room, and Molly, Arthur, and Ron’s expressions went slack. Their eyes glazed over briefly before clearing, and they looked around at each other confusedly. Marie Therese then waved her wand at Ochs and Ginny, who both glowed with a green light. Ochs looked up in alarm.

 

“What did you do, Therese?” he asked. 

 

“Just a simple counterspell, cousin. There will be no wedding,” she announced. 

 

“But Therese, why not?” asked Ochs petulantly. 

 

She turned to her cousin, “Sebastian, this spell is antiquated and the contract was entered into under false pretenses. Let’s just say that I undid your mother’s wrong and prevented a huge injustice.”

 

“But, cousin, what about my mother’s wish? She wanted me married!” Ochs cried, stomping his foot like a spoiled toddler. 

 

“ _ _Your_ _mother__ is not around to worry about it, Sebastian, so get over it!” Marie Therese said in an outburst of anger unlike any the others in the room had ever seen from her before, and Hermione and Remus both gasped as they saw sparks coming out of her wand. 

 

She took a calming breath before continuing. 

 

“Look, Sebastian,” she said, placing her hand on his arm. “I’d rather not discuss this with you right now. Why don’t you go out to the bar and see if Henrietta is still out there. Maybe she’ll be more obliging now that you’re a free man.” He looked at her for a moment and then nodded. He turned and, with a bow to the Weasley family, left the room. 

 

Once Ochs had closed the door behind him, Marie Therese breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Hermione. 

 

“I found the counterspells for both the __Conubium__ and the __Familias__ spells earlier today, Hermione. You see, Sebastian came to me the other day, telling me that he was about to become engaged through the __Conubium__ spell. He didn’t know who the girl was, but I decided that I couldn’t let her, whoever she was, marry someone more than twice her age.” She glanced toward Harry and Ginny standing by the door. “Especially if she already had someone she loved,” she said.

 

“Therese,” pleaded an alarmed Harry, pulling away from Ginny and starting toward the older witch. “I don’t…”

 

She stopped him with a raised hand. “Please, Harry, let me continue,” she said, glancing at Ginny, who was staring at Harry with confusion on her face.

 

“Several years before Ginny was born,” Marie Therese began, “Arthur was tricked by Sebastian’s mother into signing a __Conubium__ contract so that his first daughter would marry her son on her eighteenth birthday.” Arthur and Molly gasped. 

 

“I don’t recall signing anything or even meeting that woman!” Arthur said, scandalized at the suggestion.

 

“Of course you don’t. You were under a befuddlement charm when you signed the contract,” she said.

 

“What’s a __Conubium__ contract?” whispered Ron to Hermione.

 

“I’ll tell you later,” she whispered back.

 

“She hadn’t done her research and didn’t know that that your family hadn’t had any girls for generations,” Marie Therese continued. “So she had to wait several years before one to come along. By the time Ginny had started Hogwarts, my aunt had already passed away, but the spell remained intact. The __Conubium__ spell was activated yesterday when Ginny opened the box from the Ministry, and since then the rest of the family has been under the influence of something called the __Familias__ spell, making you happily compliant with the marriage contract.” 

 

She looked at Harry and Hermione. “Has the family been acting strangely since they received the box?” They nodded and she continued. 

 

“The engagement was sealed when the Cavalier,” she gestured toward the Harry, whose hand was again in Ginny’s, “gave Ginny the silver rose at the Betrothing ceremony.”

 

Hermione jumped in, skipping over the part where she had restored Ginny and Harry’s memories. “Then Remus, Harry, and I decided to research the spell and we found an incantation which, when spoken simultaneously as the family receives a shock, such as seeing Ochs in the middle of a tryst with a, um, scarlet woman,” she said as Harry blushed and concentrated on staring at his shoes, “would release you from the __Familias__ spell.” 

 

“Unfortunately,” she continued, turning toward her fiancé, “Ron’s protective big brother instincts and Auror training kicked in and he blocked my incantation with the stunner that he sent at Ochs.” Ron looked abashed, so Hermione linked her arm through his reassuringly.

 

“So how did you know what to do to release Ginny from the spell, Therese?” asked Harry.

 

“After Ochs told me his news the other day, I began looking through my old letters for one that I remember receiving long ago from my cousin Andromeda,” said Therese.

 

“Tonks’s mother?” asked Hermione.

 

“Yes. She and her late sisters, Narcissa and Bella, are my cousins,” she said. “Since many girls in pureblood families had been bound by the __Conubium__ spell, my ancestors developed the counterspells and made a tradition of using them to release their female relatives before they could be forced into unwanted marriages. I have a feeling that my aunt, Ochs’s mother, chose your family because she knew you likely wouldn’t know the counterspells,” she said to Arthur and Molly. 

 

She paused before continuing, crossing to the fireplace and looking into the flames. “So, the spells were handed down among pureblood witches and were used to free their younger female relatives. Andromeda did the same for me … when it was my turn.”

 

Several people in the room gasped. 

 

“You were under the __Conubium__ spell, Therese?” asked Remus. 

 

“Yes,” she said quietly. “I was contracted to marry Lucius Malfoy.” 

 

It was Harry’s turn to gasp. “Therese! But Malfoy…” he began. 

 

She turned toward Harry and held up her hand to stop him again. “Andromeda, who by that point had pulled away from the family and married her Muggle-born husband, was horrified by the idea of her favorite young cousin marrying Lucius, who had already taken the Dark Mark and was openly following Voldemort. So she appeared at my Betrothing ceremony and cancelled both spells before the rose was given.”

 

“Malfoy must have been livid!” said Remus. “What did he do?”

 

“Yes, he __was__ angry, but he knew better than to do anything to Andromeda in front of the Ministry officials, and he eventually got over it. He held a grudge against her for a long time after that. It might have been why he always seemed to target Tonks in our battles against the Death Eaters.” 

 

“How did your parents react?” asked Hermione.

 

“My mother was relieved, but my father was pretty angry. He and his sister had planned for me and Lucius to marry a long time before that. So when my father demanded that I marry him __without__ the spell, I refused and he threatened to disinherit and disown me. I was devastated. I’d been very close with my father, and it hurt to see him so disappointed in me,” she said quietly, reaching into her pocket and retrieving a handkerchief to dab at her eyes.

 

Molly walked over to the younger witch and put an arm around her. “Oh, Therese, you poor dear.” She led Marie Therese to the couch and sat down next to her.

 

“It ended well, Molly. You see, this is when Stephan stepped in to help me. He was a family friend and had been to the house quite often as I was growing up. He’d taken a liking to me, and when he heard about my predicament, he offered to intervene without my father’s knowledge. He knew my uncle Cygnus – Andromeda’s father – so he talked to him and made him realize that Lucius would be a good match for Narcissa. So they eloped and I was off the hook. My father then gave up and accepted the fact that I wouldn’t be marrying Lucius,” she said.

 

“Stephan helped me out with quite a few things during that period,” she continued, smoothing out the creases of the handkerchief on her lap. “When it looked like Voldemort was starting to abduct and force the dark mark upon young purebloods who hadn’t already joined the Death Eaters, my parents feared for my safety. Stephan stepped in again and helped me secretly escape to Vienna to live with my mother’s relations. He was my Secret Keeper, and not even my parents knew where I was during that time. He kept me informed about what was going on back home and was there for me when….” She paused and looked at Molly. “When my mother was killed in a Death Eater attack in Diagon Alley.”

 

“Oh, Therese, I didn’t know your mother had been killed in the war!” cried Molly.

 

“Yes, she was, and neither I nor my mother’s cousins in Vienna could attend her funeral because the need for secrecy was so great,” said Marie Therese, wringing the handkerchief in her hands. “It appeared that her death was just a random occurrence, but I think that she was deliberately targeted because they knew of her sympathies toward Dumbledore and the Order.” Her voice broke and she paused for a moment, trying to regain her composure. 

 

“But the war ended when Voldemort was defeated that October,” she continued, with a glance at Harry, “and Stephan returned me to England to be reunited with my father, who unfortunately had taken my mother’s death, and my absence, quite hard. Her murder had challenged all of his previously held beliefs about pureblood superiority and Voldemort’s cause. He became very ill and was close to death when he asked that I grant him one last request – that I be married before he died, preferably to someone in our social circle.” 

 

She stood and crossed back to the fireplace.

 

“So Stephan stepped in once more and asked me to marry him. I decided that even though I did not love him in a romantic way, I did care for him and knew he’d be a good husband – especially in comparison to someone like Malfoy!” she chuckled. “So we married in a quickly planned ceremony, and my father died a week later.”

 

“Oh, Therese, you poor thing. You’ve been through so much,” said Molly, standing and walking toward the younger woman, taking her arm. “I’m so sorry that you had to marry that way, that you couldn’t wait for someone you truly loved.”

 

“It’s fine Molly, I’ve been happy with Stephan, and I haven’t lacked for love,” she said, with a surreptitious glance at Harry, who she saw still had his hand in Ginny’s. Ginny caught the glance and looked between Harry and Marie Therese. 

 

“Marriages can be entered into for any number of reasons,” she continued. “I was lucky that I married a good man, one whom I respect and have built a solid life with. I am content,” she said, turning to look at the others in the room. “I am happy with my work and I am blessed to have such good friends as all of you.”

 

She heard a soft sniff and glanced over to see Ginny looking back at her with tears in her eyes, trembling with the effort to hold back a sob. Marie Therese walked over and handed her handkerchief to the younger witch. Ginny took it gratefully and dabbed at her tears as Harry looked at Therese with anguished eyes and a tear running down his cheek. 

 

“Therese…” he began once more and Marie Therese held up her hand again to stop him. She paused, looking at Harry and Ginny for a moment, and then seemed to make up her mind about something. She reached up and wiped the tear from Harry’s cheek with her thumb, and said softly, “Heute oder Morgen oder den übernächstigen Tag.” 

 

He looked back at her with a pained expression. “Therese…”

 

Without looking away from him, she said, “Hermione, Remus tells me that there’s another spell that needs to be performed.”   


   

* * *

**A/N:** “Heute oder Morgen oder den übernächstigen Tag” is a line from Chapter 2. It means "today or tomorrow or the day after that".  Only one more chapter to go!  There will also be an epilogue. 


	18. Chapter 18

  
Author's notes: **A/N:** This is the final chapter of the story, though there  


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****CHAPTER 18** **

Marie Therese turned to look at Hermione, who returned her gaze quizzically. “I’m not sure what you mean, Therese…” she said. 

“I think you do, Hermione,” replied the older witch, looking back at Harry and Ginny.

Hermione gazed at her for a moment, comprehension dawning, and said, “Therese, are you sure?” 

Marie Therese looked at Harry as she said, “Yes, Hermione, I’m sure.” 

“Harry?” Hermione asked, looking over at her friend.

“Therese…” said Harry, stepping toward her with a pained expression on his face. 

Marie Therese held up her hand once more and said, “Please, Hermione. Do it now.” 

Ginny turned to Harry and asked, “What’s going on?” 

Harry just shook his head and looked at Marie Therese with tears in his eyes. 

Hermione lifted up her wand waved it toward the others as she intoned, _“ _Finite Memorandum Amorum Incatatum_.” _

For the second time that evening, Molly, Arthur and Ron’s eyes glazed over. 

Ginny looked at Harry. “Is she releasing the memory spell?” Harry closed his eyes and nodded in response. 

After a silent moment, with the fog lifted and their memories restored, the three Weasleys looked at Harry and Ginny for a brief second and then flew over to the couple in a flurry of arms and hugs. Molly hugged Ginny while Arthur shook Harry’s hand and Ron patted his friend on the back. 

“Oh my dears, I can’t believe that we’d forgotten about you two lovebirds! And to think we almost married you off to someone else!” Molly cried, hugging Harry. “I’ve always wanted our Ginny to marry you, Harry!”

“Hermione, how long had you kept this a secret?” asked Arthur, speaking the first words he’d uttered since the previous morning. 

“Since we left for the Horcrux hunt,” she said, looking abashed. 

“And you waited this long to release it?” he asked. “Why?”

“There were, um, several mitigating circumstances,” she said, glancing at Remus and hoping he could help her hold off further questions. He cottoned on, nodding slightly back at her.

“Molly, Arthur,” Remus said, taking their arms. “Why don’t we go out to the bar and get a drink and I’ll tell you all about our search for the counterspells? It’s really quite an interesting story.”

Remus deftly guided the elder Weasleys out the door and looked back at Hermione, who smiled at him gratefully before he closed it softly behind him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hermione looked at Harry, Marie Therese, and Ginny who were staring at each other, clearly unable to begin the necessary conversation. She decided to allow Harry and Marie Therese to talk in private and took Ginny’s arm and then Ron’s. “Come on guys, let’s go sit by the fire and I’ll explain what’s been going on,” she said, guiding her friends over to the sofa. Ginny looked back at Harry, but Hermione whispered something in her ear and the younger girl nodded and sat down with her back to Harry and Marie Therese. Hermione cast a discrete __Muffliato_. _

Marie Therese turned to Harry and looked into his anguished eyes. 

"Therese..." Harry started, but she put her fingers to his lips. 

"Harry, I told you the other day that you would find someone else to love, and it looks as though she was here the whole time. I'm so very happy for you, Schatz," she said.

"Therese, I don't know what to do," Harry said as he looked into her eyes, which were bright with unshed tears. 

"Yes, you do. Go to Ginny. You belong together." 

"But Therese, what you and I have..." 

"Harry, what you and I __had__ was beautiful,” she said, holding one hand to her heart. “I will cherish it always." 

“But you…”

“Harry, I’ll be fine,” Marie Therese said firmly. “You know I will be. Now go to Ginny. She’s waiting for you. She's been waiting for you for a long time.” 

She leaned toward Harry and kissed him softly on his cheek. He closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss. 

"Thank you," he whispered, knowing that the two words were inadequate to express his gratitude for everything she'd done for him and for everyone he loved – for Ginny, for Ron, and for their family. 

He kept his eyes closed as she pulled away and walked toward the others in the room. He felt his eyes burning with tears and turned away as he heard her talking to Hermione, Ron and Ginny.

"Therese, I didn't know…" started Ginny, standing up to face the older woman. 

"I didn’t know either, Ginny. But you and Harry belong together. You really do. Will you do something for me?" Ginny nodded, tears in her eyes. 

"Please make him happy. He missed out on so much growing up and now he needs as much love as you can give him." Ginny nodded as the older woman leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek.

Marie Therese turned to Hermione. "Thank you, Therese, for everything,” said the younger witch. “I don’t know what we would have done without you. I’m sorry I botched things up with the spells, including the memory spell," she said, looking down and chewing on her lip.

Marie Therese put her hand under Hermione’s chin and tilted her head up to look into her eyes.

"You are a good friend, Hermione. You had a heavy burden to carry and you had everyone’s interests at heart," she said. “You did just fine.”

She took Hermione’s hands in hers. "And you really are the smartest witch of your age,” said Marie Therese. “I should know. I was called the smartest of mine," she said with a soft smile, and she squeezed her hands before releasing them. She turned to Ron and kissed him on the cheek before turning to walk toward the door, where she saw Remus had come back for her. 

She passed Harry, who was staring at the floor, and put her hand on his shoulder as she passed and squeezed it softly. She released it and moved toward Remus, who took her arm and guided her out the door, closing it softly behind him.

"And she's the most generous witch of her age," said Hermione softly, as Ron took her hand.

She turned to smile at her fiancé. “Come on, Ron,” she said brightly, leading him toward the door. “Let’s go out to the bar and join the others. We still have our own wedding to plan!”

“As long as I can order some food. I’m starving!” he said, popping some leftover grapes into his mouth and following his fiancé. He patted Harry on the shoulder and gave him a wink as he passed before closing the door behind him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry didn’t move. He kept his eyes on the floor.

Ginny walked over to Harry and took his hand in hers, peering into his face. “So… you and Therese?” she began. 

Harry nodded, still looking at the floor. 

“When? How long?” she asked softly.

“Since shortly after the war. She helped me deal with everything that was going on with Ron, with Remus, the battle, you know, everything. She helped me when I needed it,” he said, looking up at her, tears in his eyes. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you, Ginny.” 

“It’s okay, Harry…” she began, reaching up to dab his tears with the handkerchief that Marie Therese had given her.

“I wouldn’t have done it if I’d had my memories,” he continued. “Really, I wouldn’t have. I would have come back to you if I’d known. I’m so sorry, Gin. Can you forgive me?”

“Oh, Harry. There’s nothing to forgive. You didn’t know about us. I can live with that.” She took his hand again and looked at him. “Do you love her?”

He looked at her for a moment and then nodded. “Yes. I do. But not in the way that I love you, Gin,” he said, emphatically. “I can give her up, but I can never let you go now that I have you back. You’re my heart,” he said, giving her a pleading look and reaching up to tuck a piece of her fire-red hair behind her ear. “You’re my life. I’d like to marry you someday, if you’ll have me.”

“Really?” she asked.

“Yeah, I would,” he said, taking her other hand and looking into her eyes. “I’d thought about it before… well, before the memory spell. I was planning to ask you after, or rather, __if__ , I killed Voldemort. I was hoping to come back to you, Gin.”

“You don’t know how happy that makes me, Harry,” she said, smiling up at him. “I want to marry you too. But let’s get to know each other again now that our memories are restored, okay? You have to take some time to get past everything with Therese, and I need to get used to us being a couple again. Plus I have to finish school. And we have a lot of catching up to do, in more ways than one,” she said with a flirtatious smile. 

Harry broke into a grin that lit his entire face and pulled her to him. Ginny threw her arms around her former ex-boyfriend to pull him in for a passionate kiss, not noticing as she dropped the handkerchief Marie Therese had given her on the floor behind him.

Ginny came up for air a few moments later and looked at Harry with a sly grin. She gook his hand and pulled him toward the bed in the corner of the room, while he allowed himself to be pulled along, a dazed smile on his face. The newly reunited couple were so wrapped up in each other that they didn’t hear the small pop as Winky appeared, grabbed the forgotten handkerchief and disappeared without a sound.

****~Das Ende~****  
  
 **A/N:** Well, maybe this isn't quite the end. There's an epilogue, which will be up soon!


	19. Epilogue

****Epilogue: Werdenberg Manor, August 1999** **

 

Morning dawned in Marie Therese’s bedchamber, the sun slowly climbing up the brocaded walls. A messy head of brown hair lifted from the pile of bedcovers and pillows and gazed at the beautiful woman in the bed with him. 

 

“Morning, love,” the man said, as she opened her eyes to gaze back at him. 

 

“Morning,” she replied, her voice husky with sleep. “Did you sleep well?” 

 

“I always sleep well when I’m here with you, particularly after a night like last night, my dear.” He leaned over to place a soft kiss on her lips. She kissed him back more deeply, wrapped her arms around his neck, and was starting to pull him down on top of her when they were interrupted by a tapping at the window. 

 

He groaned and slid out of bed, wrapped his lower body with a blanket and shuffled over to the window. She regarded him with the low-slung blanket around his hips, his nice firm arse and smooth skin broken by scars lining his shoulders and arms. She noticed how thin he was, but was pleased to see that in the last week he had made a good recovery from his regular physical and mental traumas. 

 

He raised the window, letting a large snowy owl into the room. “Hello Hedwig,” he said as he took the white envelope and stroked her head gently. She hooted in response and he gave her some owl treats from the bowl next to the window, which she ate before nipping his finger lightly with her beak and winging away from the house.

 

“It’s for you,” he said, closing the window, shuffling back over to the bed. He handed the letter to Marie Therese and climbed back in, lying on his side and draping an arm over her body as she opened the envelope and read the enclosed parchment. 

 

“Ah, Remus, it’s an invitation to the wedding!” she said, her eyes lighting up.

 

“I was wondering when they would get around to sending those out,” he said, looking at the engraved parchment.

 

“Are you surprised that they invited me?” she said, grinning at him. 

 

“Of course not. I know that you and Harry have moved beyond what you had and are now good friends. And I think it’s great that Ginny has accepted you as a friend,” he said, taking her hand in his. 

 

“Yes, she is a very special young woman. I’m so glad they’re including me in their lives,” she said wistfully. 

 

“Why would they not? You became very close with the Weasleys during Ron’s hospitalization and you did so much for them, like releasing Ginny from that horrid spell and helping with Ron and Hermione’s wedding this summer. I think they know that they have a very special friend in you,” he said, pulling her hand toward his lips and kissing it softly. “And so do I,” he said, leaning down to kiss her neck. 

 

“I’m just glad that I can be friends with Ginny,” she said, arching her neck to allow him access as he traced his tongue up across her skin. “I’d hate there to be resentment or jealousy. Harry and I were able to make a clean break.” 

 

She giggled when he licked a particularly ticklish spot behind her ear. “We both had reasons to break it off and we didn’t have lingering doubts. I do miss him, but I’m not __yearning__ for him. Do you know what I mean?” she asked, pulling away and looking at him.

 

“I guess I do,” he said, leaning back onto the pillows. “It took me a long time to get over Tonks’s death and I don’t think I ever really will, but it’s been over a year and I’m finally able to accept it now,” he said, looking over at her. “And I’m so glad I have you to help me move on.” 

 

She set the invitation on the night stand and rolled over to snuggle in next to him. “Yes, that seems to be one of my talents,” she said, smiling as she kissed him. 

 

“One of many,” he responded huskily against her lips. She kissed him back softly before breaking away. 

 

“I’m glad that you’re here, Remus. I’m sorry that it can’t be more, but you know my situation,” she said, leaning her forehead against his. 

 

“Of course, Therese. I can’t expect anything more from any woman, given my condition. I do appreciate you allowing me to transform here. Now that Harry’s so preoccupied with the wedding, I don’t want to bother him, and once the wedding’s over I’d rather not interfere with a pair of newlyweds.”

  
“I love having you here and am glad I can help. You know I’m a sucker for anyone in need,” she said, kissing him on the nose.

 

“Therese, can you answer a question for me?” he asked seriously.

 

“Sure, anything.”

 

“Do you always shag your charity cases?” he asked, grinning at her.

 

“Remus, you beast!” she cried and launched herself on him, rolling him over in the bed so that he was on top of her. He responded by leaning down and kissing her deeply. 

 

“But I’m __your__ beast, Therese,” he said and caressed her face, kissing her again. She ran her hands into his hair and returned his kiss. 

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They were about to take things under the covers when they heard a small pop. They looked up to see Winky standing by the bed with a tray of hot chocolate and two slices of Sacher torte, beaming broadly at them.

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__****A/N:** ** _ _

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__Well, this is it! I want to thank all of you for sticking around for the whole story. I had a lot of fun writing it and am glad that it was so well received. I know that there were several elements that people had issues with, but this is how my muse told me to write it, and as my profile says, I **have** to listen to my muse/plot bunny or suffer the consequences. _ _

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__When I said that it was H/G at its _heart_ , I didn’t meant that the pair would be at its _center_ , as I wanted to focus on issues surrounding Marie Therese and her relationship with Harry. I also wanted to portray relationships as they really are – messy and complicated – and the choices that people have to make._ _

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__As I mentioned earlier, this story was framed around the storyline of _Der Rosenkavalier_ , an opera by Richard Strauss (music) and Hugo von Hofmannsthal (libretto). Here’s a Wikipedia page on the opera if you want to read the synopsis and see how my story fits in with theirs <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Rosenkavalier>. Marie Therese and Sebastian Ochs are borrowed from that storyline, but the rest of the characters belong to our favorite author in Scotland. I saw _Der Rosenkavalier_ when I was studying in Vienna in college and I fell in love with the story and wrote my senior thesis on it. So it was a strong inspiration for a fan fic, 17 (cough) years later. If you ever get a chance to see it, it’s a lovely opera (though I know opera is not to everyone’s taste). The final scene between Marie Therese, Harry and Ginny is based on a bit of music in the final act – a trio between three sopranos (yes, Harry’s character is played by a woman, a ‘Trouser Role’ as I described in an earlier author’s note). It’s a very lovely little trio. If you’d like to hear it, send me a private message and I’ll send you the song file. _ _

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__Finally, I want to thank Mench for her excellent beta work – check out her stories here on TQP. And keep your eyes open for some follow-up stories to Knight of the Rose. They will be centered around Marie Therese but will touch on the canon characters’ lives._ _

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